What is the best film of Jamie Lee Curtis' career? We answer the question on the occasion of the release of “Borderlands”.
Jamie Lee Curtis, 65, is one of the most popular American actresses, Oscar-winning in 2023 for her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Made popular thanks to her role as Laurie Strode in the Halloween saga, the actress has known how to vary the pleasures and offer us many remarkable films, in all registers.
On the occasion of the theatrical release of Borderlands, in which she plays Tannis, a whimsical scientist, we ask ourselves the following question: what is the best feature film with Jamie Lee Curtis in a leading role, according to AlloCiné viewers?
To find it, you have to take a little leap in time to 1989. With a score of 3.8 out of 5 (average of 13,453 ratings), A Fish Called Wanda is Jamie Lee Curtis' best film.
Directed by Charles Crichton and John Cleese, the film introduces us to a very uptight lawyer, Archie Leach. He is flanked by a snobbish wife, a beautiful, sexy American woman, Wanda, with legs that never end. We also have his fiery “Latin lover” Otto, a former CIA agent, a very shy man and a friend of animals.
Archie also has to deal with Ken Pile, an exotic fish named Wanda who sadly ends up in Otto's stomach and, finally, George, a pathetic gangster in whose mind the umpteenth hold-up of the century germinates. This is the team of winners who make up this police comedy, in which each of them will try to take advantage of the other.
What do the spectators think?
According to The Classiest Man in the World, “A Fish Called Wanda is a great film. More traditional and less English than the Monty Python films, but just as hilarious. And then Michael Palin and John Cleese are enough to inject a bit of British humor into this American film.”
TTNougat agrees with his counterpart: “One of the most successful Anglo-American comedies of the 80s, there is nothing to throw away, everything is excellent, from the actors to the script, including the direction and the dialogues. Jamie Lee Curtis maintains an exemplary dignity in all circumstances thanks to a very classy staging but also thanks to her natural distinction.”
For his part, Cyclon86 is also dithyrambic: “A Fish Called Wanda is one of the best comedies I've ever seen. Superbly written, with characters who constantly betray each other and absurd and hilarious situations, the film holds up throughout its duration.”
For Bruno65, the film is “a gem of comedy with hilarious situations and overexcited actors. There's no denying it, you have to admit that the English are great at producing comedies. Great!”
According to ManoCornuta, A fish named Wanda is “a fabulous detective comedy, one of the pinnacles of the genre, where some of Monty Python come to cross swords with a delicious Jamie Lee Curtis and a totally mad Kevin Kline. The gags follow one another at breakneck speed, the characters are all crazier than each other.”
UIP
They liked it less
While a large majority of viewers loved A Fish Called Wanda, a few diehards are less convinced. For example, Lame Squid missed the film:
“The whole thing is rather heavy, vulgar, and predictable. The use of stuttering is repetitive and ridiculous, the vaudeville scenes will only make children laugh. If we add to that a lack of rhythm, the result can only be disappointing. A false cult film that we can avoid without regret.”
Degrace was not very convinced by the comedy either: “I smiled at times, but I couldn't even hold on until the end in front of this abracadabra, and very British, story.” Oriwa is not either “Not a fan. British humor, they say… Very Americanized here, but in any case I have trouble. It's heavy, there's constant yelling, it's overloaded with stupid gags.”
For AlphaWolf, “The plot is very sluggish and never really takes off; we live around these rather ordinary characters and this rather boring heist story which never manages to completely captivate our attention, despite a few lines and scenes which hit the mark. Fans of the genre will appreciate it, others will move on.”
If you want to make your own opinion about A Fish Called Wanda, the film is available on the platform Mubion DVD and VOD.