The John Cleese film set in a zoo. Came out in 1997. Indirect sequel to the crap A Fish Called Wanda.
I first saw it about five years ago and I have to say I loved it. Great script, great cast (including Ronnie Corbet and Robery Lindsay).
Has anyone seen it? What did you think?
Don't call me Stoopid! I loved A Fish Called Wanda. Sequel was OK.
Wanda's not crap!
I agree though, FC is an excellent film. The hotel sequence is a brilliantly constructed example of good old-fashioned farce. 
Much preferred Wanda to Fierce
Quote: Greg Sammons @ August 17, 2007, 4:45 PMMuch preferred Wanda to Fierce
Ditto with a capital Dit!
I liked both but Fierce Creatures had a wee extra spark.
This is why I hate A Fish Called Wanda:
First of all, John Cleese is barely in it for half an hour.
Michael Palin's stammer wasn't funny. Arkwright got it right with a stutter, but a stammer just isn't funny. It's overstepping the mark.
Thirdly, and most serious of all, is the swearing. As soon as I heard characters utter such horrific expletives, then it's gone from funny to deadly, deadly serious. Now I'm talking about the F-word here. John Cleese is better than that and doesn't need to resort to such bad language. Every single character in it said the F-word at least once and the major players said it countless times. It was uncalled for and just plain unfunny. If there were no F-words, it wouldn't have been a 15 (should have been an 18, IMHO) and could have been seen by millions of more people. Added to which, Cleese went through the whole of Fawlty Towers without saying it!
I saw it on a flight to Singapore once.
I can't really remember it as I was, as usual, barely holding in the plane based terror.
Quote: Dave @ August 18, 2007, 7:06 PMThirdly, and most serious of all, is the swearing. As soon as I heard characters utter such horrific expletives, then it's gone from funny to deadly, deadly serious. Now I'm talking about the F-word here. John Cleese is better than that and doesn't need to resort to such bad language. Every single character in it said the F-word at least once and the major players said it countless times. It was uncalled for and just plain unfunny. If there were no F-words, it wouldn't have been a 15 (should have been an 18, IMHO) and could have been seen by millions of more people. Added to which, Cleese went through the whole of Fawlty Towers without saying it!
But FT had a completely different tone, style, era, and perhaps most importantly, medium! People say "f**k". It was trying to put some element of realism into the characters. It's when the use of "f**k" or similar is the joke that one could say there's a problem (although it depends on the exact context), but not just through use of the word itself.
Quote: zooo @ August 18, 2007, 7:17 PMI saw it on a flight to Singapore once.
I can't really remember it as I was, as usual, barely holding in the plane based terror.
Aww, bless you! Have a chocolate biscuit.
The F-word was the core of most of the "jokes" in Wanda. Like when Cleese goes to see Tom Georgeson in his cell and TG says about the coppers at the door, "Tell 'em to F**k off." And Cleese looks at them and says, "F**k off." But they don't and he says it more slowly, "F**k ... off."
A great scene, and realistic dialogue. Replace the word "f**k" with almost any other and it loses no merit though. It's not about the words but the attitude. Any more examples?
Otto swearing. "Go ahead. F**k her blue."
Similar case there. It's just a phrase! There's no comedy resting on the word itself, but the attitude, tone and situation in which the exchange takes place. Could just as easily have been "shag", "bonk", "bang", etc etc, but it just doesn't scan as well.
Quote: zooo @ 19th August 2007, 12:17 AM BSTI saw it on a flight to Singapore once.
Do you recall the purpose of that trip to Singapore? Perhaps a visit to the Tiger Balm Gardens?
