A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Directed by Charles Crichton
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.
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What critics compared A Fish Called Wanda to
The movie gives off something reminiscent of old caper romances like Charade, How to Steal a Million, A Fish Called Wanda, the Ocean’s movies, and the underrated Duplicity, in which Julia Roberts and Clive Owen keep their con going so long that what they’re left with is each other.
Instead, the writers put a half-assed effort into making us emotionally invested, and instead land in an awkward middle ground between a revenge narrative with a satisfying conclusion (à la The Italian Job), and a broad comedy heist caper (à la A Fish Called Wanda).
Shades of A Fish Called Wanda’s Otto, here’s a criminal mastermind who, if brains were dynamite, couldn’t blow his nose.
Examples that immediately leap to mind are some '80s faves like "Tootsie," "Fletch," "Trading Places," "A Fish Called Wanda," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," and your pick of the John Hughes teenage years flicks.
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Other performers and their characters, such as John Cleese ("The World is Not Enough," "A Fish Called Wanda") as the ghost Nearly Headless Nick, end up not amounting to much and easily could have been jettisoned with no ill effect on the overall story.