Ep 53 - A Fish Called Wanda (1988) Patreon Pick

[00:00:00] Speaker A: A fish called Wanda, 1988. When you put together a team of with brains, brawn and beauty, pulling off a diamond heist is the easy part. Trusting everyone to take an equal cut. Now there's the rub. Chaos ensues as the thieves quickly turn on each other, willing to say and do anything in their power to take the whole pie. Assholes. [00:00:32] Speaker B: Completely overrated. [00:00:33] Speaker C: Hello, everybody, and welcome back to our rating. Now, this is the last Thursday of the month, so we're doing our Patreon pick, where the head writers and above get to choose. A movie friend or a movie that we get to do. Doesn't have to be part of a franchise, can be anything they want. And this week they've decided to do A Fish called Wanda, the 1988 classic. Is it right to call it a classic, do you think? [00:00:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's got a reputation as a classic. [00:00:56] Speaker C: Fair enough. I'm joined this week as always, by Brian and Will. Brian, how are you doing today? [00:01:01] Speaker B: I'm pretty good. [00:01:02] Speaker C: Excellent. How about you, Will? [00:01:04] Speaker A: I'm even better. [00:01:07] Speaker C: Love to hear it. Now, Will, you were saying sort of before we went online, this is not your first time seeing one. [00:01:12] Speaker A: Is this. [00:01:12] Speaker C: This one? [00:01:13] Speaker A: Is this correct? That is correct. The Mrs. Really enjoys this movie. So it. It gets played. We own it on dvd. Yeah, yeah. It gets seen once in a while. [00:01:23] Speaker C: Very nice. I have to say, this is apparently my first time seeing it. When they first announced it, I, for some reason heard. Heard A Fish Called Wanda and thought of Birdcage. So this was a surprise to me when I put this one on. Had never seen it before. Kind of surprising because I'm a big John Cleese fan and I actually enjoy a lot of the cast members in this one, but just kind of missed my radar. What about you, Brian? Had you ever seen this one before? [00:01:44] Speaker B: First time. And I also was a little confused when we talked about A Fish Called Wanda. I asked, is that the Tom Hanks one with the mermaid? And Chat said, yeah, Ron, that's the one. And I went away thinking I was gonna add to my collection of Tom Hanks films, and instead I. I got this one. [00:02:05] Speaker C: So you didn't actually watch any of Splash? Just assuming you had it right. You did it. Watched the correct movie in the beginning. [00:02:10] Speaker B: I've never seen Splash and I had never seen A Fish Called Wanda. [00:02:14] Speaker C: Okay, fair enough. So this was picked by Elder JM990, who unfortunately is not able to join us this week. He did join us the last time we did a Patreon Pick For a short little intermission telling us why he liked this movie or why he picked this movie. We don't have that from him this time, or at least not at this time. I think it's pretty safe to say though, like as you mentioned, this is well deserved classic, even on a first time viewing. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Will, you said you've seen this quite a bit because your wife enjoys this. Do you, I apologize if you said it and I missed it. Do you also enjoy this one or is it your wife's and you just kind of watch it with her dutifully? [00:02:48] Speaker A: Well, it's kind of giving away the, the whole, the whole spiel here. But I enjoy British comedy, I enjoy black comedy, I enjoy Monty Python. So I think it would be safe to say that I probably enjoyed this movie. But we'll find out at the end. [00:03:04] Speaker C: Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, I guess I shouldn't ask Brian if he enjoyed this one then, should I? [00:03:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think you should ask me that. [00:03:11] Speaker C: Yeah, I was wondering. All right, Sounds like my predictions while watching this are accurate. [00:03:18] Speaker A: I'm actually most curious about you, Dan, because you are the wild card. Because I know you like Monty Python, but we don't always connect on humor in the same way. Speaking personally, you and I. So I was like, I was like, oh, is he gonna like this or not? So I'm interested to hear your take throughout this conversation. [00:03:37] Speaker C: So it's worth mentioning I've said this before multiple times. Not only is comedy extremely subjective from person to person, I also feel a lot of comedy has an expiration date. So this being a movie that is almost as old as we are, could be a really, really tough sell. I walked into this one literally blind, not knowing anything about it that you can't see on the front cover. So like the actors that are in it. I got maybe 45 minutes into this one and was just like, this is just not for me. It's just not really doing it for me at all. And I couldn't tell you the exact scene where that changed, but at one point I, I just found myself just warming up to the characters more, liking the humor more, getting into it and chuckling. I will say I don't think I ever like full on belly left at this movie. That's a lie. I didn't full on belly left this movie until one specific scene that just absolutely got me. And then I was just kind of enamored with the movie after that. I, I, I. Okay, I wouldn't say That I loved it. One that I'm gonna go back to over and over again. The scene that just got me and my wife even, like, stopped to look at me while I was watching this is. There's a returning gag in this show where Michael Palin is trying to kill a little old woman and instead just keeps taking out her dogs. And on the third attempt, he has a super elaborate scene out of Wile E. Coyote set up where he's got, like, a cinder block up high. He has to snipe the cinder block, land on the old woman, and of course she turns around and it lands on the dog. And that wasn't all that funny to me. But the fact that the old woman doesn't see it right away, and we're just kind of left with this cinder block. And when I say cinder block, I mean like 4ft by 4ft. Like, this thing is massive. Huge. Yeah. Where the dog used to be. And she's just walking away and like, her. Her leash getting longer and longer and longer as she's walking away, and then shorter and shorter. She comes back and she's walking around the cinder block trying to like, where is my little doggie? Surely this didn't happen three times in a row. I don't know what it was. Something about that scene just absolutely tickled me inside, and I just could not contain myself. Not like I was like, on the floor, belly laughing. No, just that, like. Like uncontrollable little, like, I can't. I can't believe it did it. But that got me. And then I was just kind of happy for the rest of the movie, I guess. I wouldn't say that I loved it. And again, this is a slow burn for me. It took me a while to get into this movie, but once I was. Once I kind of latched onto the characters once the running jokes or the returning gags kind of set in, like the. The fact that every time he takes off, he causes an accident and yells at the other person as if it's somehow their fault. [00:06:16] Speaker B: It. [00:06:16] Speaker C: It did start working for me a lot more, and I did start really enjoying this also. All four of the main actors absolutely on fire in this movie. Like, all of them are just really pulling their weight and. And showing their. Not only comedic shops, but just their ability to. Ability to act. They're charisma. Just showing their charisma on screen and why we should love these characters, why we do love these actors. I. I fell in love with this movie, I will say, even as I'm saying it Now I'm kind of curious to watch it again at some point. Not right away, but, like down the road and see if the charm grabs me earlier. Now that I know how it comes about. Does that make sense? [00:06:54] Speaker A: That makes sense. Yeah. [00:06:55] Speaker C: Sorry, that was a very long winded spiel about my overall thoughts on the movie, but that's kind of where I'm at. [00:07:03] Speaker B: What about you, Will? [00:07:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, again, I, I stated like, I'm a fan of, Of British humor. It's a little dry. I like farce. This is obviously a farce. You know, the double cross, triple cross, crisscross applesauce throughout the movie. And, you know, the physical shticks. Like Dan mentioned he liked the third dog do in. I love the first one where this rabid dog just scoops this dog up and just takes off. It's like such an obvious fake dog in its mouth. But it's just so funny that the plan goes so sideways and it. It's just like doubled down by the fact that the character loves animals so much and he's just murdering these dogs over and over again. It's just taking it out on himself. I just thought that is. It's. I thought it was funny. Again, there's like, I, I laughed out loud multiple times in this movie. Maybe it's just the humor I like, can I see for first time. And that was my biggest wonder, is Dan and Brian's first time viewing this movie? It is from the 80s. Does it hold up? That was a big question in my mind. So I, I was interested in hearing what you guys thought of the, of the humor, because as Dan said, some humor just does not stand the test of time. Whereas I feel like physical bits like those are. Can. Will always be funny because I don't know, for some reason, physical bits of comedy kind of, I feel, can stand up over time. [00:08:42] Speaker C: Well, there was another scene where John Cleese is getting naked, getting prepared to have, you know, a fun evening, and an entire family walks in and is just kind of like looking at him as he's fully undressed. And like, John Cleese is a master, so it's fun to watch because of him. But you've seen that scene so many times in so many different iterations. It was just kind of like, okay, like, we've, we've done this so much and like, who knows, maybe this did it first in 1988. I sincerely doubt it, but it's possible. [00:09:11] Speaker A: No, yeah, it would have been as played. But the funniest part of that scene to Me is when he grabs the picture and it's the woman's face and then she gives the look of like, oh, like that's my, that's me. You're covering yourself with me. That was the funniest part to me. And not that to me was like so funny again that that part of it is so funny. Just that little look of. They didn't have to add that in. That is like that is a thought out executed joke of we'll take her framed photo to place them behind his privates and then have her look and, and react to that is. It's so funny that they thought through all these little jokes. And Dan, you mentioned that you're somewhat interested in watching again. I think you will pick up kind of more layers of the comedic elements if you do reviewings of this movie again. [00:10:03] Speaker C: It's not what I'm gonna rewatch tomorrow. Well, actually I actually will have to re watch this fairly soon because the edit where I watch most of the movie. So maybe I will see a suggestion, significant portion of it at least. [00:10:16] Speaker A: Okay, Brian, hit us, hit us. We know, we know you hated this movie. Hit us with it. [00:10:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I didn't even crack a smile this entire film. I, I watched it in, in portions like I normally do. And every time I had to turn it on, I didn't turn it off because I was out of time. I turned it off because I couldn't stand watching this any longer. And so I, I, I viewed this 15 minutes at a time. I did start to, I guess warm up to it toward the end, but not enough to enjoy it. I'll say this, I love John Cleese in almost everything he does. I am a big fan of Monty Python and I expected like when I saw his face, of course, you know, going into this thinking I was going to get one thing. And then I got this. I saw his face and I was like, oh, that's, this is going to be fine. We're, we're good, we're good here. Plus, I love Jamie Lee Curtis. I love her in Halloween. I love her in True Lies. You know, I think she's great. And then of course we've got Kevin Klein, another person who I've enjoyed a lot of his comedies and Michael Palin isn't somebody I have seen a lot of, but I don't have any problems with him. The problem I had, I think starting out is that I hated all of the characters, especially Otto. He was just unbelievably stupid. Like literally I did not believe him And I felt, I felt his performance, like every time I watched him, at least through the first half. After the first half, I started to warm up a bit, but in the first half, I felt like he was delivering lines. That's what it felt. It just took me out of it. I just constantly felt like he was delivering lines and not working with the people on screen. It bothered me. It just didn't. I didn't take to it. His character was just so incredibly dumb and naive. All the men in this were so incredibly dumb and naive and constantly being led around by their pants. I'm not a big fan of infidelity and adultery, so that theme didn't land well with me. Honestly, I actually, at first I, I didn't like Wendy, the, you know, Archie's wife, but later I felt bad for her because he finally got through to her, you know, accidentally giving her a necklace. And she was all about him all of a sudden, and he's still trying to, like, run around behind her back. I don't know. I, I, you know, I really tried to get into this. I'm, I'm a fan of older comedies. So this style of humor, like, should have, should have struck a chord with me, and it just didn't. The Dogs Dying. I was like, this should be funnier. But for some reason, I'm not laughing. And frankly, I just, I, I just wanted it to be over. I didn't like the story. I didn't care where it went. I didn't care for any of these characters, and I just didn't have any fun with this film at all. And I was kind of sad, too, because I've heard so much. You know, I've. Everyone's heard A Fish Called Wanda. Everyone has heard of that, except for [00:13:25] Speaker A: you and Dan, who thought it was completely different movies. [00:13:28] Speaker B: Well, I heard, I heard the title. I just thought I knew what I was. [00:13:31] Speaker C: Yeah, but I thought the fish was a mermaid. [00:13:34] Speaker B: I'm sorry, guys. From a technical aspect, I can appreciate a lot that this movie brings, but from a fun and enjoyment standpoint, this was like bottom of the barrel for me. This is one of the worst movies we've had to. I've had to watch on our rating. For me, I really did not enjoy. [00:13:52] Speaker A: Are you, Are you including the Home Alones right now? [00:13:55] Speaker C: Never ending. [00:13:56] Speaker B: 42. Oh, it beat. It beats Home Alone and Never Islander 4. It beats some of the Highlanders, some of them. [00:14:11] Speaker C: Now, out of curiosity, you mentioned that you like John Cleese. We did, like, a year ago. So I apologize if I Get this wrong. We both did like our top 20 movies in separate episodes with each other. And I mentioned Monty Python and the question of Holy Grail. If I remember correctly, you did not like that movie, though, right? Did you not? Was that. Not one. [00:14:28] Speaker B: No, I like the Holy Grail. I just like the Life of Brian better. [00:14:31] Speaker C: Oh, okay. So I apologize. Yeah, no, I thought you were not. [00:14:34] Speaker B: I love all the Monty Pythons. I think they're fantastic. That's genius comedy right there. That's groundbreaking, breathtaking comedy that I love, and that's what turned me on to John Cleese in the very first place. I've loved everything he's been in ever since. I don't love this movie. I think his. His job, acting in this movie was the best of all four of. Of. Of everybody in the film. I thought Jamie Lee Curtis did a good job acting, but I did not like her character or how she manipulated the men who were just so blatantly just oblivious to what was going on. Like, I could not believe that Otto was her brother. I could not, would not, will not ever believe that. That lie. And I'm like, how could anybody in this story ever think that they are brother and sister? This just didn't jive with me. [00:15:26] Speaker C: I don't think. Okay, now this is gonna be funny because we were just talking about another project before this where I was like, I don't like any of these characters. So I get where you're coming from. I 100% do. I don't think you're supposed to like any of these characters. I think these are supposed to be deplorable characters who. You kind of find it funny how dumb they are, how manipulative, manipulate. They are. Manipulatable. They are. No. Manipulatable. Like, they can be manipulated. I. I think that's kind of the point of where the enjoyment for this comes from, because you. You don't like it. Even like Michael Palin's Ken is probably theoretically the nicest person amongst the four of them. Went around murdering dogs left, right, and [00:16:05] Speaker B: center, and they gave him that. [00:16:06] Speaker A: Not. Not on purpose. [00:16:07] Speaker C: Not on purpose, but he still does. He's trying to kill a woman. [00:16:11] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:16:12] Speaker B: They gave him the stutter that made it so painful to watch him. Like, the stutter was so over the top. And then Ken making fun of it. The jokes weren't that funny. I kind of felt like I was like, you're Otto making fun of Ken. I was just like, man, Otto's just that much bigger a dick. Like, and his Expense. Weren't that fun. Well, none of it. Nothing would. Like I said, I didn't even smile during this entire film. Yeah, I came really close when Ken killed the third dog and the old lady just like, died. And he walked over and he starts cracking up. Yeah, he's all laughing. I came really close to feeling something during that scene. And that was about it. [00:16:50] Speaker C: Something. [00:16:53] Speaker A: Almost felt something. [00:16:55] Speaker B: Yeah, almost. Almost like you're getting ruined it with that stupid road paver scene that went so. [00:17:00] Speaker C: So that was painful. [00:17:02] Speaker A: That was so funny. [00:17:04] Speaker B: And I was like, okay, Austin Powers did this scene so, so much better than this, you know, I mean, probably. They probably took a note from A Fish Called Wanda. But, yeah, it's just. I was just. I just. It just didn't land for me. And. And obviously popular film. You guys had a good time with it. I'm just not the right audience, I guess. [00:17:26] Speaker C: Now, I know that we've discussed this before, not discussed this in length. We don't have to get into it now. But I know that you've mentioned before that infidelity is. Is kind of a trigger for you. The. The scene that I'm where I think I started turning around on this movie, ironically, is the scene in John Cleese's house where they're starting to get intimate and the brother's around. All of a sudden, his wife and his kid come home and they're all trying to hide. And the brother's like, I'm part of the CIA. Like, it was so incredibly stupid. But the look on John Cleese's face to the entire thing, because he's also. He was founded, like, with what's going on. [00:17:59] Speaker B: He never met Otto at that point. He's like, exactly this guy. [00:18:02] Speaker C: There's just all of a sudden they're [00:18:03] Speaker B: breathing because he's saving. [00:18:05] Speaker C: Right. The bro code in full effect. At the same time, just like, why is there a stranger in my house? What is going on? [00:18:11] Speaker A: But they're trying to help me get out of this, so I'm gonna go with it. [00:18:14] Speaker C: Yeah, the look on his face was absolutely priceless. John Cleese is an absolute master. [00:18:18] Speaker A: It's funny too, because John Cleese is, of everybody, the straight man in this movie. And that's not his typical shtick if you're watching Monty Python and things like that. So I thought that was an interesting take that he ended up putting himself because he wrote it and co directed it, but he put himself into that straight man role. If there is a straight man in this movie, obviously. [00:18:40] Speaker C: Well, and the fact that he did write this one and then put himself in the, the role that, you know, gets to make out with Jamie Lee Curtis and, like, kiss her chest and whatnot. Like, all I could think of was how Tarantino. Tarantino put himself in the role in Dusk till Dawn. Yeah. Sometimes it's good to be a writer. [00:19:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:02] Speaker A: So it's funny that. [00:19:04] Speaker C: Oh, go ahead. [00:19:05] Speaker B: Well, I was gonna say, I, I. You mentioned he's the straight character in this film. That's probably why I liked his character, why I didn't hate his character the least. Like, like, it was. I don't want to say I liked his character, but I didn't. Yeah, it's probably because he was the most serious and everybody else was just so incredibly, outlandishly dumb and silly and, And I was like. It was unbelievable for me, almost to the point where I was like, is this supposed to be like Naked Gun slapstick kind of comedy? Like, is it so far out there? Am I missing something here? Because everything was so unbelievable for me. [00:19:44] Speaker C: Yeah, it definitely felt very cartoonish. Again, even the scene that I was originally describing with, like, you know, essentially a piano hanging out of a rooftop waiting to fall on somebody. It's like, great. Out of Looney Tunes. And I think it was kind of, at some point, my brain realized what I was watching, and that's when I kind of got on board, which is again, why I kind of think I do want to watch this in the end at some point and kind of like, okay, now I know what I'm getting in for at the jump and see if that changes my opinion of the first 45 minutes or if it does just take a while to build to get to the zaniness where the movie does kind of shine a little bit more. [00:20:19] Speaker A: I think it does shine more in the second half. It does take time to kind of build that up until it's just, like, completely off the rails. But yeah, I mean, the characters are bold right from the jump, and they, they're characters of, you know, stereotype characters. It's a farce, right? That's, that's the whole thing. Like the buyin. You have to just kind of go, go with the buy in being like, okay, this is silly foolishness. Let's see who ends up with the cash. Right. If anybody. And so I, I guess, like, if you don't get on board, it's. I could see why you wouldn't find it that funny. [00:20:58] Speaker B: Halfway through, I was like, I don't care who gets the diamonds. I hope the diamonds get flushed down a toilet or something. Like, I don't want anybody to get them. I want all these people to go to jail or whatever, you know, I [00:21:08] Speaker C: was a little surprised nobody got punished. I mean, I guess, like, because even Auto survives at the end. Yeah, but I mean, okay, fair. But George isn't somebody we care about. [00:21:20] Speaker A: Yeah, George. George is in the. [00:21:21] Speaker C: I guess none of them run. Cares about. [00:21:23] Speaker A: And it. The end was actually changed slightly. Otto's character was supposed. Supposedly dead, but it didn't test well with the test audiences because everybody liked the character. So they had him come back at that in the. In the airplane scene to just do his little bit there at the window. [00:21:43] Speaker C: Yeah, so. [00:21:44] Speaker A: Yeah, so that nobody actually gets. [00:21:46] Speaker B: Which was. Which was weird because his feet, like, cemented into that concrete in seconds. And then the rest of him, he was able to just slop his way out of there. [00:21:55] Speaker A: Yeah, somebody helped him out. [00:21:58] Speaker C: Also, the window on the plane is like 40ft, 30ft up or something, but whatever. [00:22:03] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, he found a way. He found a way. It's also funny that you guys mentioned you didn't like the steamroller. Steam. There was two movies that year that came out with a character getting a bad guy getting killed by a steamroller. Or not killed, but run over. [00:22:18] Speaker C: Who killed Roger Rabbit? [00:22:20] Speaker A: Who framed Roger Rabbit? Yeah, I also had that. And what's more funny is that the director. What's his name? Crichton. This one of this movie. [00:22:29] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:22:30] Speaker A: So John Cleese always wanted to work with Crichton because he really liked him as a director and kind of idolized him a little bit. And so he really wanted him to direct this movie, but the producers were like, he's super old. He hasn't directed in a while. We don't think he can do it. So John Cleese is like, no, I'm gonna. I'll go in as co director so that I can have him. And then he ended up just directing the whole thing. But the whole idea of the script was initially idea was John Cleese wanted. He thought it would be funny to have a character who stutters. And Crichton, his only prereq was he wanted somebody to get run over by a steamroller. And that's where this movie started. So from that to this, I mean, it was pretty good. [00:23:13] Speaker C: I will agree with Brian, a lot of the stuttering and especially Otto's treatment of Ken really didn't work for me. However, the lack of stuttering in, like the two scenes where that came about, that did kind Of I don't even say make me chuckle. But it's kind of like, oh, okay. Well, like, right after Jamie Lee Curtis kisses him, and all of a sudden he can speak in full sentences while he's just so stunned. And then, like, he can't say the name of the hotel. But the second the other guy says it, he says it perfectly. There's like. Like, he's kind of, like, surprised with himself. I was like, that wasn't really worth the amount of time it took to get there, but it was kind of a. A cute little moment. [00:23:48] Speaker A: Yeah. So Michael Palin's put a lot into his research because his father actually had a stutter and actually almost worse than what was portrayed on the film. [00:23:59] Speaker C: Oh, wow. [00:23:59] Speaker A: But what he noticed is that around people you he trusted, he stuttered less. So throughout the movie, his character was like that as well. If he trusted the person, he stuttered less. That's why when he's around animals talking to his fish, there's, like, no stutter at all. But when he's getting yelled at, what's. What's the name of the hotel? You know, with John Cleese's character, he. He can't get it out at all. And it's very, very difficult for him to talk. And he got. He got some, like, lots of praise for the. The stuttering within this movie and. And a lot of, like, critique. But he ended up, after this movie starting up, like, one of the biggest organizations to help stuttering children. And it's still running to this day. So that's pretty. Pretty cool that. [00:24:45] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:24:45] Speaker A: He invested time and money into that afterwards, so a lot of good came out of it as well. But I. I can see that there are scenes when you're like, okay, get it out. Like, you feel like the other characters, like, get it out. Ken, come on, buddy. We gotta move this movie along here. [00:25:02] Speaker B: I had to go YouTube, search the scene from the King's Speech just so I could, like, cleanse myself of the stutter. [00:25:10] Speaker A: The King Speech is a very good movie as well, by the way. [00:25:13] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. There was the scene with John Cleese where I was like. Like, the second it started happens, like, just get a pen. Just get a pen. [00:25:20] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:25:20] Speaker C: I was like, instantly. And they finally got there, but it was like, okay, cool. [00:25:26] Speaker B: From a technical standpoint, what did you guys think about this concerning music and sound effects and, of course, the. The cinematography of the film? For me, the cinematography was. Was pretty basic, like, well done. Nothing wrong with it. I kind of enjoyed some of the shots, some of the simple shots where like they pull up in a car and they're perfectly framed in the shot when the car comes to a stop. I was like, people don't understand how hard it is to make that shot work. Like you, you basically have to have the, the cameras lined up at where. At the stopping point and then back up and have it, have it happen. So simple little things like that done well, cinema, Cinema graphically. And the sound on it was. I didn't notice anything, so I guess that was okay. It didn't take me out or, or, you know, really build up anything up for me. [00:26:15] Speaker C: I was thinking the same thing actually, with the sound. I was trying to think about that on my drive to work today. I couldn't remember a single noise in this movie. Like, there was no, like, specific sound effect that I thought was funny. There was no song or needle drop or whatever you want to call it. That was like, oh, that was really well timed. That was really ill placed. Absolutely nothing. Which is sometimes not a curse. Like, if it's so seamless in the movie, it's kind of like, okay, that could actually be a good thing. We talked, I think last week, two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, I think it was where there was a sound drop. It was so bad it took me out of the movie. So this one, not doing that, I guess is a good thing. But also, like, that's no risk either. Yeah, exactly. Like, it is, like, competent, I guess. But that's kind of the most you can say about both the cinematography and the sound design. But again, it's a comedy. So like, that's not really what I'm here for. If they can do it on top of the comedy, amazing. But I'm here for. I'm here to laugh. And I, I did. So from a technical standpoint, it's fine. [00:27:16] Speaker B: Well, yeah, it wasn't like there were any montages where they could just have some music playing to add to the soundtrack. Because sometimes you'll have a movie that's a comedy and there will just be some sequences where some amazing stuff is happening and they've got some rock music playing and it's getting you pumped up or something, and that's fine. This just didn't have any of those sequences in it. And so it didn't have any soundtrack to it and the rest of the sound was fine. Even the silenced pistol was close enough. Especially for the day, for, for that era when they were making movies. This, that was, that was a great sounding pistol for back in the Day. And it was close enough to this, to this time, so I didn't mind that. That portion of it. [00:27:54] Speaker A: Yeah, for me, it's similar. It's. Especially in the genre we're covering here of comedy. If I'm not noticing things, then we're in the right place. [00:28:04] Speaker B: I'm not. [00:28:05] Speaker A: I'm not going out of my way to be like, okay, was this precise to the sound that it needs to be or anything like that. I'm more interested in, okay, where's this scene leading and what's. What's the punchline coming at us here? So, yeah, I mean, overall, I think it's good. It was nominated for best director at the Oscars. Also really nominated for best writing at the Oscars. And Kevin Klein won best supporting actor at the Oscars for this film. [00:28:32] Speaker B: Kevin Klein won best supporting actor for this film. [00:28:37] Speaker A: Yes, he did. [00:28:38] Speaker B: Well, there's proof. It's rigged. [00:28:43] Speaker A: Yes, he did. I think. I mean, again, you. You didn't. You didn't connect with him. You didn't believe him, which is totally fair. I. I felt like he was purposely pushed out of his comfort zone to be a caricature of this pompous American. And. And they. They play that in throughout the movie. Right, The British. [00:29:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Berating him with it. [00:29:05] Speaker A: And so I think. I think he delivered on what was. [00:29:13] Speaker C: What was. [00:29:14] Speaker A: What was the target of. Of what they wanted to be this pompous, know it all American who doesn't listen to anybody, doesn't. Does whatever he wants, whenever he wants. I think. I think he did a great job. And that. That also being said, this was like the first real comedy he was in. So he was, like, super nervous about even doing any of this. So knowing that as well just kind of adds to, like, okay, well, he. He certainly committed. You can't say he did not commit to the role in this movie. [00:29:44] Speaker C: I will say, looking up the other actors in the role for that this year for the best supporting actor. I've not heard of any of these movies, so might have been a little bit of a weak year. I know the actors, River Phoenix, Martin Lando, Alex Guinness, like, he's got some pretty strong competition there. I've. I've not heard of these other movies going up against it, so maybe that had something to do with it. I'm not trying to take anything away. I think actually Kevin Klein did a pretty good job in this for the cartoon character that he was. [00:30:14] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:30:15] Speaker C: But it was definitely a cartoon character. Whereas a lot of years it would go to a more serious role. [00:30:21] Speaker A: It typically does. It typically does. [00:30:23] Speaker C: If you like what we do and you want to help support us, head on down to our Patreon. There's a link down below. Huge shout out to our executive producers, Real Bubba, Hotep and Dino. Thank you guys so much. As well as our head writer who's responsible for picking this movie, Elder JM990. Sorry, before we move on to the next portion, I also want to mention because this is the first week that this is here, our rating is now in podcast form on most if not every available podcast network, including Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music. So if you want to head over to I've got the link somewhere. Shoot. [00:30:58] Speaker B: Oh, the link will be in the description below. [00:31:00] Speaker C: The link will be in the description below. There's a website there. You can go and find our rating. I think it's called Our Rating Movie Reviews. Just to make it a little easier to find anywhere podcasts are found. But if you want to go find your specific one, check that website out. All of them should be listed there. We're gonna be rolling out the episodes about two to four a week so that it's not like flooded. But also we want to get caught up so that we're bringing out the new episodes as soon as possible. Go check it out, hit subscribe, give it a five star rating or whatever rating you think we deserve as it'll help get this out to more and more people. And the bigger this is, the more we can do this, the better it'll be. Thank you all so much for your continued support. [00:31:37] Speaker B: So this movie wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't enjoy it right from the get go. I didn't like the characters, I didn't like how they were. So I didn't like that they were characters of themselves. They were just unbelievably naive and just bothered me. A lot of the men just being led around by their pants all the time. I felt like it was almost like Jamie Lee Curtis was stooping kind of low for this one. I really appreciate her as an actress and I just thought it was, I don't know, I guess it just wasn't for me is what I'm trying to say. From a technical standpoint, I can appreciate this much like I can appreciate certain musicians but not enjoy their music. I can appreciate that this is a quality built film, but I just had zero fun watching it at all. I was so glad it was over and very frustrated with it. Honestly, I think the funniest thing in this movie was at the very end, how it said that Archie and Wanda had 17 kids. Like, that almost got a chuckle out of me. But that might have just been my happiness that the movie was finally over. So for me, I'm gonna give this one a 65. And most of that is just propped up by the fact that I know a lot of good things went into this film, but if you're not a fan of this brand of comedy, then just avoid this one. But otherwise, if you do like these older comedies or you're a big fan of, say, Klein, Curtis, Cleese or Palin, then, you know, go check it out. There's a reason you've probably heard of the name of this movie before, so. So, so take a look if you're. If you're interested. But for me, definitely not one I'm ever going to return to. [00:33:22] Speaker C: Okay. So for me, this one took a little while to get into. It was a little bit of a slow burn and it took probably about 40, 45 minutes before I even cared about anything going on in this movie. Once I did though, like, once I kind of invested into what this was and realized how cartoonish it was and how silly it was, I actually started enjoying it quite a bit more. I think the performances across the board, at least from the four main characters, are all really, really solid. John Cleese is an absolute master. Jamie Lee Curtis has never looked better and is also a phenomenal actress. But I mean, the point of her role in this movie is kind of be the all around sex appeal for all of the men in that universe. And she does a very good job there. Kevin Klein as Otto is absolutely ridiculously stupid, but that's kind of the point of his character. Michael Palin, with his stuttering. I could hit or miss. I could have done without at least the drastic nature of it, but otherwise I thought he did very well. Music, neither here nor there for me. Cinematography, neither here nor there for me. Plot was okay. It is a farce of what it is. And then the enjoyment for this one, as I said, it was a slow burn, but once I got on board, I got on board pretty hard with this one. I am curious to re watch it, albeit I will take a significant break before I do that. I'm coming in with 76 on this one. It's not as much higher than Brian's as I thought it was going to be, considering the way he was talking about this movie. I just enjoyed it more than he did, but I didn't love it. It's not one that's going to be in my rotation, but it's fun. I'm glad I saw it. I'm glad I now know what people talk about when they mention this movie and not Bird Cage. [00:34:55] Speaker A: All right, I'm here for Elder JM to put this movie where it belongs. As usual, just joking. Obviously, everybody's entitled to their opinion. And unlike Brian, I felt the characters weren't in just Infatuated with Wanda. I felt like everybody in this movie was in it for themselves. And if Wanda was going to give them attention, they're not going to say no. But at the end of the day, I don't think Otto's going to run away with Wanda. I think he's going to leave her high and dry, just like anybody's going to leave anybody high and dry in this. But of course they're gonna play into it, because who doesn't want to kiss a beautiful woman? That being said, I do think that this farce kind of fits the bill. [00:35:41] Speaker B: It's. [00:35:42] Speaker A: It's firing on all cylinders as far as a farce is concerned. I really enjoy the dry wit of British humor. You know, the side characters. The wife is like, so straight edge, and. And she is reacting to the lunacy of these other characters like we are. And that makes it more enjoyable to me and more fun to watch these other characters being like, what are these. What are you even talking about, Otto? Like, you obviously have no idea what the CIA is about and things like that. So. Overall, I think if you're a fan of British humor or black comedy, you should check this out. I was holding off on the does it hold up? That is one of the critiques or the categories I rate movies on because Dan and Brian hadn't watched this. I wonder, does it hold up? And I feel like it is losing a little bit of steam as time goes on. So. Overall rating on this movie is an 80 out of 100. It doesn't quite hold up as well as maybe other movies do. But that said, if you've watched this when it first came out or, you know, early 90s, you. You probably. You were probably on the. The comedy train along with everybody else. [00:36:55] Speaker C: All right. To no one's surprise, this movie did not hold up to City of God, which was pretty highly rated or very highly rated by all three of us. But it came in higher than I thought it would at a 74. Yeah, you sound so sad. [00:37:11] Speaker B: I mean, I. I didn't like giving it a 65, but I still have to appreciate it for its quality, for its Other aspects, it just wasn't. It just wasn't a movie that struck a chord with me. That's all there is to it. [00:37:22] Speaker A: No, that's totally legit. That's totally legit. Again, like Dan said, like, comedy is. Everybody's different on what they enjoy, what they like. This also like. Go ahead. [00:37:32] Speaker B: I like the style of comedy. It's just this exact message wasn't. Wasn't for me. [00:37:38] Speaker A: Yeah. And I was gonna say, like in the 80s, you know, goofing around this, you know, cheating on people and things like that was a little more light hearted, I think, than it is nowadays. I don't think it plays off as much in comedy anymore. A lot of the issues in this, you know, making fun of somebody with a speaking condition, I think that was worse. You could do that a lot back in the day that you can't do anymore. So that. That does date this a little bit. So those things completely make sense to me why this doesn't hold up absolutely well. [00:38:13] Speaker C: And at one point, doesn't he. I don't even think I want to say it. Doesn't he use like the, the f. Slang on the one guy? Like. [00:38:22] Speaker A: Oh, maybe. Yeah. Because Otto at one point says he's a homosexual. [00:38:26] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:38:27] Speaker A: He could get to Ken to get information and makes him uncomfortable and all that. Again, all things that maybe don't play as well in today's comedy scene. But it is what it is. Right. And I mean the way they did [00:38:39] Speaker B: not play a very, A very convincing gay man. Did not [00:38:44] Speaker C: really trying to. I think obviously not for. For Brian. I don't know that I think infidelity. Infidelity could still work in comedy in today or at least in movies today. I don't think making fun of [00:39:02] Speaker B: disability. [00:39:02] Speaker C: Proper word is disabilities, does. I don't think that plays very well at all. Or it has to be done with an incredibly deft touch. I don't know. I think, I think that definitely hurt it a little bit. But also that wasn't like a huge portion of the movie. That was really just the one character. [00:39:19] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. [00:39:20] Speaker B: But yeah, there's lots of stuff in today's cinema and television about infidelity and they take all kinds of different angles and sometimes I can enjoy those. Those that programming and sometimes it bothers me a little bit. I mean, I have, I have reasons why I don't like it, obviously. [00:39:37] Speaker C: Sure. [00:39:38] Speaker B: This one, this one. I think the biggest thing was that Jamie Lee Curtis played a cliche sex symbol, that seductress. Right. A very cliche one that was very obvious and it should have been very obvious to the characters in this film that she was not genuinely affectionate towards them. And none of them pick it up. Whether they're just looking for a little on the side as they go or they're following her completely. It didn't even matter to me. It was like, duh, she's not into you. Like. Like Otto should have known when. When he sees her using the exact same tricks voice, you know, seductive maneuvering with the other men. And it didn't occur to him that he was being played. Well, I mean, granted, his character was supposed to. [00:40:32] Speaker C: You said he's an idiot. [00:40:34] Speaker B: Yeah, he's. Well, they all seemed rather dull to me and. Yeah, I just. Yeah. [00:40:41] Speaker C: So that's our rating of A Fish Called Wanda, but what's yours? Leave a comment down below. I'd love to hear from you. This is a Patreon pick, and if you want to head over to Patreon and support us there, you can also have your movie chosen and we'll review it on the 3rd, last Thursday of every month. Other than that, if you enjoyed the show, make sure you hit the like and subscribe buttons that we see you in the next one.