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A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

tomatometer

96

Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 47
Fresh: 45 | Rotten: 2

No consensus yet.

88

Average Rating: 7.8/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

77

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 161,761

My Rating

Movie Info

In A Fish Called Wanda, Jamie Lee Curtis plays an ambitious con artist who uses every ounce of her sexual wiles to obtain a fortune in jewels stolen by her gangster lover Tom Georgeson. First, she romances Georgeson's dimwitted but deadly henchman Kevin Kline (who won an Academy Award for his performance). Then, to clear the path for her getaway with Kline, Jamie woos Georgeson's starched-shirt attorney, John Cleese -- and it's Cleese whom she genuinely falls in love with. Michael Palin,

R, 1 hr. 38 min.

Comedy

,

John Cleese, Charles Crichton

Jan 1, 1998

MGM

Cast

All Critics (47) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (51) | Rotten (2) | DVD (26)

Wanda defies gravity, in both senses of the word, and redefines a great comic tradition.

April 27, 2009 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Like many of the best English comedies, much of the humor here is based on character, good-natured high spirits, and fairly uninhibited vulgarity.

April 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
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Though it is less tasteless, irreverent and satirical than the Python pics, film still is wacky and occasionally outrageous in its own, distinctly British way.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
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It's not easy to describe the movie's accumulating dimness or to understand what went wrong.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comments (2)
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It'll keep you amused enough to sit still and even remember it fondly. But it seems a light day's fishing for Messers Cleese and Palin.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's a deliciously dishy comedy, but like sushi an acquired taste.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Crime caper with a wicked edge. Not for kids.

January 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Wacky farcical entertainment.

June 8, 2010 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

It's a comedy classic.

April 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Although filled with clever twists and double-crosses, the film's storyline is less important than the opportunities it gives the actors to exploit their goofy characterizations.

April 27, 2009 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

If there's one thing that never gets old, it's the love/hate relationship we share with our neighbors over the pond, and Cleese's perfect comic concoction plays this out with side-splitting results.

March 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Scene-Stealers.com | Comment
Scene-Stealers.com

This fish is swimming with laugh-out-loud moments.

February 6, 2007 Full Review Source: FulvueDrive-in.com | Comment
FulvueDrive-in.com

No pun intended, but all the stars aligned for this film. It was the perfect blend of British and American humor.

January 28, 2007 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | Comment
7M Pictures

a black comedy with a heart, and I can tell you from experience that it just keeps getting better and better with each viewing.

November 22, 2006 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment
Q Network Film Desk

it's the right time to watch A Fish Called Wanda, so it can finally get the quotable legacy it so richly deserves

November 18, 2006 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

If you haven't seen it yet, then this is the DVD to get (2006 Collector's Edition)

November 15, 2006 Comment
Buzzine Magazine

It's the humor, the quick pace of the film and the hilarious performance put forth by Kline that ultimately carries this thing, with its tight ending making it all that much better.

August 11, 2006 Full Review Source: JoBlo's Movie Emporium | Comment
JoBlo's Movie Emporium

One of the funniest movies of the decade.

August 9, 2006 Comment
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

There's nothing deep, nothing ground-breaking, but it's a never-dull, tightly scripted yarn with some very funny gags.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for A Fish Called Wanda

Kevin Kline is one of my all time favorites and he shines alongside Cleese, Curtis and Palin in an all time classic comedy.

June 29, 2008
jmanard52

Super Reviewer

Though A FISH CALLED WANDA is often makes a grand show of comic violence, nonsense, and obscene vulgarity, it is massively hysterical, unique, and ultimately likable. There have been films such as THE BLUES BROTHERS, SPACEBALLS, AS GOOD AS IT GETS, and THE SIMPSONS MOVIE that gave my lungs a serious workout, but after

July 8, 2011
spielberg00
Alexander Diminiano

Super Reviewer

    1. Wanda Gerschwitz: You think you're an intellectual don't you ape?
    2. Otto West: Apes don't read philosophy!
    3. Wanda Gerschwitz: Yes they do, they just don't understand it!
    – Submitted by sean b (2 months ago)
    1. Wanda Gerschwitz: Aristotle was NOT Belgian!
    – Submitted by sean b (2 months ago)
    1. Archie Leach: I Wendy- I Wanda- I wonder...
    – Submitted by Maria O (2 months ago)
    1. Otto West: Avoid the green ones. They're not ripe yet.
    – Submitted by Maria O (2 months ago)
    1. Ken: Otto t-t-tried to k-k-kiss me.
    2. Wanda Gerschwitz: I thought he might.
    – Submitted by Maria O (2 months ago)

Latest News for A Fish Called Wanda

January 19, 2009:
John Cleese Preps Fish Called Wanda Musical
He's talked about doing it before, but it appears that John Cleese has finally gotten around to...

October 1, 2008:
EW Looks Back on 30 Unforgettable Nude Scenes
The MPAA doesn't like it, but America has never been able to get enough of naked people on the big...

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Foreign Titles

  • Ein Fisch namens Wanda (DE)
  • Un poisson nommé Wanda (FR)
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