Dustin: Okay Chewie, you ready to punch it?

Adam: All right!

Dustin: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to another exciting edition of “Spoiler Warning”! I’m Dustin Grovemiller, and joining me for this comic heist is Adam P. Knave.

Adam: Shhhh I'm watching Jamie Lee in Slo-mo!

Dustin: Really? Umm... well, I gotta be frank -- why?

Adam: You do not find Curtis hot as hell?

Dustin: I think she's attractive, but she's not the kind I like.

Adam: Ahhh well, there ya’ go then. More. For. Me.

Dustin: No accounting for taste. So this go around, we're taking a look at a real treasure from 1988, A Fish Called Wanda, which brings together a cast that's a pretty tough foursome to beat -- John Cleese, Michael Palin, Kevin Kline, and the aforementioned arguably hot Jamie Lee Curtis.

Adam: Not that Cleese or Kline are exactly men I would kick out of bed. Palin... Palin, I'm sorry. No.

Dustin: I'm not saying that he's standout on his own, but I think there's something to be said about his presence really cementing everything else. Different kind of comedy, too.

Adam: Oh totally, I was only talking about attractiveness here. Totally shallow. But to get serious for a second, the first time I heard about this movie was watching the Academy Awards that year.

Dustin: Oh, hold that thought -- we should give everyone a synopsis before we get in too deep: The plot of Wanda seems complex when you try to break it down, but I think you can get by with a lot by using the hyphenate "double-cross." So the idea is that Georges (Tom Georgeson), Ken (Michael Palin), Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis), and Otto (Kevin Kline) pull off a diamond heist, only to engage in multiple attempts to double-cross each other. (See?) Further complicating things is the inclusion of Archie Leach (John Cleese) as the barrister for a jailed Georges whom Wanda tries to then additionally double-cross him as well, except she falls for him instead. Awww.

Adam: Well done! I was just thinking that I was dreading a summation of this one because it is so wonderfully dense. Part caper film, comedy, plus Cleese insanity... hard to sum up. But you did it!

Dustin: Yeah, I'm trying to figure out how I managed that... oh well. You were saying what about discovering the film?

Adam: Oh, yeah. They showed a clip from the end. The "show me your hands" moment. I hadn't seen anything that simple and yet profoundly perfectly hysterical... ever. I was in love with the film from an Academy CLIP.

Dustin: I met Wanda in college. Several of my good friends were (of course) film buffs, and this one was quoted a lot. I finally got around to asking what in heaven's name they were quoting and was introduced to the film that very night.

Adam: Oh, that's wonderful. I've done that to a lot of people, with this film and others. It's just so amazing, the film, I mean. I'm trying to think of a flaw in it, and I can't think of one. Should we break down the show by actor?

Dustin: I think I could be a party to that. Hit it.

Adam: Let's start with Palin, because he does get overlooked too often, sadly. From his amazing stutter (his father had one, did you know?) to just stunning facial expressions. I dunno. Was he the quiet cornerstone of the thing?

Dustin: Certainly, like I said before -- he's not so much the cornerstone of the flick as he's the guy that cements the whole thing together while still being funny in his own right. I think that of the three principle "villains," he's the one that's most compelling, because he's not at all malicious in his actions. He's just kind of there doing his job.

Adam: And killing animals.

Dustin: Unintentionally for the most part, though, since he's clearly supposed to be an animal lover. The scenes where he unintentionally kills the dogs, though, are some of the best laugh out loud moments of the film.

Adam: There was something subtle in the idea that his character was the least cartoonish of them all, but his actions were the most pure cartoon of them all. How much of that was meant, do you think?

Dustin: I think it was intentional. We've seen enough of Palin's work to know that he's really got a good sense of comedy and ensemble. Either Cleese wrote his part knowing this, or Palin found his own niche. Like I said, it's a different sort of comedy than the other players. It's the counterpoint to the idiocy that's on display with Kevin Kline's character.

Adam: Nice segue there boss, Kline hit his stride here. I love a lot of his body of work, but this is a masterpiece of what he can do with a good script and good actors around him. He is the best, most hateable and lovable deadly idiot ever invented.

Dustin: Just don't call him stupid, of course. But even his physical comedy here -- and now that I'm thinking about it, he has some of the most physical acting in the entire film -- is so outrageous, but at the same time, it's utterly believable from him.

Adam: He has a strange economy of movement. Big gestures that come to a dead sudden stop. And it all looks natural on him, but nothing is ever wasted. This is my second favorite role of his ever, frankly.

Dustin: First being?

Adam: January Man. A perfectly amazing film VERY few people seem to know.

Dustin: Okay, all you people reading this, that's your cue to go look it up. On to Curtis now. Her deal is that she's kind of the master manipulator of the whole thing, and the plot evolves and moves forward entirely on her actions. She's funny, but how exactly would you classify her brand of comedy here?

Adam: She isn't funny by herself. But she has proven time and again that she is best when used in a supporting role for better comedians. She plays off others amazingly well, and brings up the level of the entire game. Just, by herself she isn't that funny. D'ya like how I start with her not funny and by the end I'm all "not that funny"? Kissing some ass in case, I am.

Dustin: Well, one never knows if you'll bump into her. Now with Cleese, the whole thing is kind of inverted, because here we have one of the greatest comedic minds of our time in what amounts to the role of "the straight man." Although maybe it's a case of sharing that a bit with Curtis. It's kind of hard to classify him as being the straight man, though, because he takes it and turns it into a sort of affable self-misery.

Adam: Doesn't he always though? On Fawlty Towers, his best work on record, he was both the straight man and the funniest man alive. And a second bit of trivia for you here! His first wife, Connie Booth, who co-starred in Fawlty with him, they had a child. That child plays Portia in Wanda!

Dustin: Indeed she does. Thanks to the wonder that is imdb.com, I have come to know these things.

Adam: See, dear readers, we don't just watch the films, we research them as cheaply as possible to bring you the saved time! For free!

Dustin: I would think that Connie Booth was the straight man in Fawlty Towers, though. I only comment because I recently watched the entire series. I tend to get confused when it goes beyond "comedy duo," though.

Adam: Hmm. I dunno. I still see Basil as the straight man, and often the same character as Leach in Wanda.

Dustin: Hmm, disagree in that Basil Fawlty was always trying to be a master manipulator of this surroundings, whereas the Archie Leach character was only trying to get in Wanda's pants. Although lovingly in her pants, not so much lust.

Adam: Yes, that is very true. I see the similarities in their behavior though. Except Leach has a meaner mean streak I think, over all, and more balls.

Dustin: Yes, once he'd committed to the situation. He spends a lot of time struggling with the morality of it.

Adam: He is the "good guy" though, the innocent. For a while. Until he gets dragged down into it, willingly, after Curtis' pants. And God Bless that choice.

Dustin: He's really the heart of the picture. It would've been a radically different film if say, Colin Firth had been in that role, but I think it still would've worked.

Adam: Oh wow, that would've been interesting!

Dustin: We're talking older, wiser Colin Firth here.

Adam: Right, I can see it. It would be vastly different but still really good. Staying with Cleese a second, the interplay between the characters was just as important as the characters themselves. And hands down Cleese and Kline together stole the show for me.

Dustin: The whole work is really a tremendous balancing act of writing and the meshing of all these different talents.

Adam: Much like handing D.J. a stack of hats and a plate of burritos -- the skill in of the juggling is worth the effort.

Dustin: The only other thought I have is that the pacing in the beginning is a little slow, but about halfway in it really fires up.

Adam: See, I liked that. How it switches up to mess with expectations at the very start and then does a slow burn up until the fit hits the shan, as it were. Then we're off!

Dustin: That's the only negative sort of comment I could make, though. Love this flick to pieces.

Adam: All right, I have to think of a negative. I have one! The poster. I say this assuming you can all see it in this “Spoiler.” I know it very well. It has the cast in a police lineup pose. But it also has a human sized fish next to Cleese.

Dustin: It implies something much different than what the film really is -- is that your issue?

Adam: But not JUST human sized! No. It also had arms. It was a mermaid with a fish head that looked forward. It just doesn't make sense! Make it stop! Make it stop! It's like Aquaman was trying to work out who stole his fucking shoes. "Well, officer, I think it was the God damned human fish creature!"

Dustin: USING HIS TELEPATHIC POWERS, AQUAMAN INTERROGATES THE FISHY PRISONER…

Adam: Meanwhile, Batman... who cares what Batman does! Kevin Kline killed him, because he isn't stupid!

Dustin: So that'll about do it. I assume that we agree that people who haven't ever seen this are big stupid heads?

Adam: Or possibly dead souls walking the Earth.

Dustin: Either way, I don't really want to hang out with them.