What happens when you have the perfect heist but some untrustworthy gang members? Well you hide the loot.
1988’s A Fish Called Wanda is a hilarious crime comedy from former Monty Python member John Cleese. Cleese wrote the script and stars as Archie Leach – a British lawyer who gets involved in the theft of a large amount of diamonds. He’s hired as a lawyer for George Thomason (Tom Georgeson) who is accused of the crime. George is guilty – he masterminded the heist but didn’t anticipate that his American girlfriend, Jamie Lee Curtis (who is named Wanda but not the Wanda of the title), would betray him and set him up to take the fall.
Meanwhile former Monty Python member Michael Palin co-stars as George’s stuttering right hand man who loves animals and is tasked with eliminating one of the witnesses – an elderly lady who has three little hairy dogs. Curtis has also brought in another lover – the extremely funny but idiotic Kevin Kline – who she also plans on betraying after she gets the diamonds.
George has hidden the loot and the only clue is a safety deposit box key which was hidden in a fish tank with the fish called Wanda. Curtis finds it and hides in her locket. Curtis then decides to seduce Cleese to find out if George has let him know the whereabouts of the diamonds. Things get even more complicated when Curtis loses the locket and Cleese’s wife thinks that it’s a gift from Cleese. And there is nothing worse than trying to take away a gift – even if it wasn’t a gift to begin with.