A Fish Called Wanda | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

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Why is A Fish Called Wanda so popular? ›

With exceptional performances, excellent direction and a brilliant script, A Fish Called Wanda delivers everything you could ever ask for in a comedy. In looking at A Fish Called Wanda as a slapstick comedy one would obviously start with John Cleese and his brilliant performance as the bumbling barrister Archie Leech.

At the London flat of Ken an animal lover with a large tank of tropical fish (the large angelfish is named "Wanda", after his flatmate George's sexy American girlfriend) and a nasty stutter, a meeting takes place with himself, the attractive Wanda, her lover George and her "brother" Otto.

Smartly written, smoothly directed, and solidly cast, A Fish Called Wanda offers a classic example of a brainy comedy with widespread appeal.

The picture grossed over $188 million worldwide, becoming the seventh-highest-grossing film of 1988. It received three nominations at the 61st Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Kline, which he would go on to win.

Parents Need to Know

There's also a fair bit of strong language (including "f--k" and "s--t"), some simulated sex, infidelity, kissing, explicit sex talk, and a scene in which a man is shown naked from behind.

British gangster George Thomason (Tom Georgeson) and his hapless aide, Ken Pile (Michael Palin), draft a pair of arrogant Americans, grifter Wanda Gerschwitz (Jamie Lee Curtis) and weapons expert Otto West (Kevin Kline), for a massive diamond heist. When the job goes badly, Wanda attempts to seduce George's stuffy lawyer, Archie Leach (John Cleese), to find out where George hid the diamonds. Meanwhile, Ken repeatedly attempts to kill an elderly woman (Patricia Hayes) who witnessed the robbery.

A Fish Called Wanda / Film synopsis

Ending Payoff – With Archie's career and marriage imploding, he seeks to cut his loses by finding the diamonds before the others and moving to South America. Wanda double crosses Otto and leaves him at the mercy of Ken who attempts to kill Otto but fails as Archie and Wanda fly off to South America with the diamonds.

In 2015, it was revealed in Uncanny Avengers (Vol. 2) #4 that she and Pietro are not mutants but humans who received superhuman genetics due to the experiments of the High Evolutionary. In Wanda's case, the High Evolutionary's genetic tampering made her more powerful in magic than she would have been otherwise.

80 Chapter 805 (p. 12) and Episode 754, Wanda's infobox reveals that she is a canine mink of the Warrior Beast Tribe.

While not literally a sequel, Fierce Creatures is a spiritual successor to the 1988 film A Fish Called Wanda. Both films star John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin.

Who is Ken in A Fish Called Wanda? ›

A Fish Called Wanda (1988) - Michael Palin as Ken - IMDb.

A Fish Called Wanda (1988) - Cynthia Cleese as Portia - IMDb.

'Kipling Mansions', the home of animal-loving Ken Pile (Michael Palin), and home to the titular Wanda, is Aubrey House, 7 Maida Avenue, W2, on the Grand Union Canal in the rather posh Maida Vale district of West London. There's quite a bit of cinematic history around here.

The woman who holds the records for the most wins is a costume designer: Edith Head. In a career that spanned over five decades and 400 film credits, Edith Head (1897 – 1981) garnered an incredible 35 Oscar nominations and 8 wins for Best Costume Design, the most for any woman in history.

The most recent winner is Emma Stone for her role in Poor Things (2023); she had previously won the award for her role in La La Land (2016). The record for most wins is four, held by Katharine Hepburn. Frances McDormand has won three times, and thirteen other actresses have won the award twice.

A Fish Called Wanda (1988) - Stephen Fry as Hutchison - IMDb.

The scarlet badis (Dario dario) is a tropical freshwater fish and one of the smallest known percoid fish species. It is a micropredator, feeding on small aquatic crustaceans, worms, insect larvae and other zooplankton.

Magic. Wanda's magical abilities are first seen in the miniseries WandaVision. Agatha Harkness tells Wanda that she is the only person who is able to engage in chaos magic, making her the infamous and mythical Scarlet Witch.