Common Sense Note
Parents should know about a character's sadistic treatment of his stuttering colleague that's more brutal than comic. Dogs and fish are killed; there are attempts to make these deaths cartoon-ish, but they are liable to disturb children. There is a fair amount of cursing and brief simulated sex. Talk of sex is frank and explicit. A thief gets away with her crime without being punished. A character apparently abandons his wife.
Families who see this movie can discuss the appropriateness of Wanda and Archie's actions, particularly Archie's infidelity and Wanda's criminal behavior. Do you think it was okay for Archie to run off with Wanda? What kind of consequences would these characters face in real life for their actions?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Elliot Panek
A FISH CALLED WANDA is a British crime caper that features a comedic tour de force performance by Kevin Kline, but is otherwise unremarkable. The film follows the hijinks of a team of bank robbers, Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis), Otto (Kevin Kline), and Ken (Michael Palin) as they double-cross one another in attempts to hoard the loot. Lying begets more lying, and the proceedings lapse into farce. John Cleese reprises his role from the beloved Brit-com Fawlty Towers as a brow-beaten husband whose efforts to hide an indiscretion result in hilarity. Such situations are so familiar that they become tedious if not for skilled comedian Cleese, carrying off such scenes with aplomb.
The real star of the film is Kevin Kline, whose elevation of obnoxiousness to a high art won him a well-deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. His amalgamation of overconfidence and kinetic energy is so extreme, his shifts in manner from faux-Buddhist to faux-Italian so abrupt, that you cannot help but laugh. Without him, the movie is a bit plain, nothing more than the overly familiar twists and turns of the double-cross jewel-thief escapade. Those expecting more silliness from Monty Python alums may be disappointed by the film's over-reliance on suspense and the characters' reflections on what it means to be British. Perhaps it would be a bit kinder to call this a traditional comedy, from a time when screenwriters attempted to engage an audience with a plot, rather than mock the rigidity of the genre.
Rate It!
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual ContentSimulated sex, frequent allusions to sexual arousal. |
 |
 |
|
|
ViolenceMostly cartoon-ish gunplay, occasionally a bit brutal. |
|
|
|
|
LanguageInfrequent strong cursing. |
|
|
|
|
Message |
|
|
|
|
Social BehaviorCharacters commit crimes and lie, some are punished, others are not. |
 |
 |
|
|
Commercialism |
 |
|
|
|
Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoLimited casual drinking and smoking by adults. |
|
|
|
|
