Curator Watchlist
A fast, sharply written crime farce with elite comic performances, especially from Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis. It’s clever, nasty, and broadly accessible, with enough British-American culture clash and escalating chaos to keep the momentum high.
Where to watch: Buy
Fri · 1h 49m
Director: Charles Crichton
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cleese, Kevin Kline
While a diamond advocate attempts to steal a collection of diamonds, troubles arise when he realises he’s not the only one after the collection.
Charles Crichton
Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cleese, Kevin Kline
A fast, sharply written crime farce with elite comic performances, especially from Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis. It’s clever, nasty, and broadly accessible, with enough British-American culture clash and escalating chaos to keep the momentum high.
A Fish Called Wanda is one of those rare comedies that feels both tightly engineered and gleefully unruly. The plot is a classic double-cross caper, but the real engine is the chemistry among the four leads, who keep finding new ways to turn greed, lust, and stupidity into escalation. It’s the kind of movie where every scene seems designed to topple into the next one, and the timing is almost absurdly precise.
What keeps it from feeling merely busy is how distinct the comic voices are. John Cleese brings exasperated precision, Jamie Lee Curtis plays charm and calculation with real bite, Michael Palin makes decency painfully vulnerable, and Kevin Kline goes fully feral in a performance that never stops inventing itself. The film’s humor can be outrageous, even abrasive, but it lands because the characters are so committed to their own ridiculousness.
It’s also a very specific kind of transatlantic comedy: polished enough for mainstream audiences, but mischievous enough to feel a little dangerous. If you like crime stories that turn into social combat, or comedies where intelligence is constantly undercut by appetite, this is an easy recommendation.
demi adejuyigbe (4.5★) · 1440 likes
Have been wanting to rewatch this movie for a few years and I’m so glad I finally did. Near perfect. Didn’t realize how quietly influential it was to me. Kevin Kline is so obviously the standout star of this movie that it’s wild we didn’t get countless copies of this film and this type of character for the next few years. Everything he does is funny. Michael Palin and John Cleese and Jamie Lee Curtis are having some much fun here. Tom Georgeson plays a character named George Thomason and that is worth an extra entire star.
mina · 1105 likes
The only time i’ve ever laughed when a dog died in a movie 😭😭😭😭😭
demi adejuyigbe (4.5★) · 937 likes
Every time I see Jamie Lee Curtis in this movie I think, Christopher Guest better act right
Chris 🍉 (3.5★) · 925 likes
kevin kline still fights for gay rights while being homophobic and THATS why he deserved the oscar
fran hoepfner (4★) · 880 likes
should one woman be this hornéd for Kevin Kline
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Another elegant con-artist comedy where wit, deception, and performance are the whole game.
A sharp, mean-spirited crime comedy that thrives on greed, betrayal, and outlandish character behavior.
A classic mismatched-partners comedy with espionage-like chaos and relentless comic momentum.
For viewers who like broad, fast-moving jokes and a plot that keeps collapsing into silliness.
A farce-forward mystery with social embarrassment, misunderstandings, and immaculate comic construction.
A darkly comic crime-adjacent story where deadpan tone and moral absurdity drive the humor.
A light, twisty crime comedy with romantic banter and a steady stream of escalating complications.
Not a caper, but it shares the pleasure of ordinary people getting dragged into absurd, increasingly dangerous chaos.
A black-comic crime story that balances menace and farce through mismatched personalities.
For the feeling of one bad decision leading to a night of increasingly surreal, humiliating trouble.
double-crosses, greed, sexual manipulation, culture clash, miscommunication, ensemble chaos, crime caper, farce
crime comedy, caper, farce, ensemble cast, 1980s, British humor, American humor, sexual innuendo, chaotic, heist-adjacent