MovieChat Forums > A Fish Called Wanda (1988) Discussion > Minor Nitpick I Have With One Scene

Minor Nitpick I Have With One Scene

posted 14 years ago by CalvinValjean
8 replies | jump to latest

I enjoyed this movie a lot, but there's one thing I have to nitpick about.

Towards the end, John Cleese is waiting impatiently for Ken to stutter out the name of the hotel the others have gone to, and the scene just goes on and on. Two issues with this:

1. The entire time I watched this I kept thinking "Just write it down! Just ask him to write it down!" I can't believe it honestly takes John Cleese's character close to two full minutes of screen time before it finally dawns on him to ask Ken to just write down the name of the hotel. That would have been the first thing to occur to me as soon as I found out the guy stuttered.

2. In the very next scene, we see Ken taking John Cleese to the hotel on his motorcycle. So he didn't even need to waste time telling him the name of the hotel! Ken could have just gestured "follow me" without even speaking and taken him there immediately.

Thus the whole scene is really pointless.

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[–] incredibilynskyj 14 years ago

But it was so funny!
The first time I watched the movie, I laughed hysterically at this scene. The two of them together create perfect comedy.
I think they included it because it offered a great situation set up for laughter.

[–] AssetsonFire 14 years ago

Relaxed, sat on your sofa watching the film, it's easy to say "Why didn't they do this? It's so obvious!", but think in the context of the film: both were frantic, didn't know one another, Ken had just been tortured. The scene was entirely consistent with the characters and the pacing.

[–] bringbackberniew 13 years ago

Yes, it is absurd, practically Pythonesque!!!!

What were 2 members of MPFC thinking when they did that?

[–] shenandoahpride 12 years ago

So you came here for an argument?

No, you didn't.

Yes, you did.

No, you didn't.

Yes, you did.

No, you didn't.

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[–] falcon2484 10 years ago

Three words:

Rule of Funny

The Falcon flies

[–] sage2112 9 years ago

But the list of things you point out is what makes it so funny.

[–] wwestar 9 years ago

As an Englishman it would have been rude for Cleese to ask him to write it down. Far more polite to be patient.

[–] avortac4 (3673) 2 years ago

Well, Archie didn't know it would take that long for Ken to be able to say it - he couldn't have known how serious the stutter is.

(Should I call it 'stammer', all things considered?)

You usually try one thing first, and if that doesn't work, then you move on to another.

Ken couldn't have known what or who Archie is, or that he could help him - he was just tortured and almost killed, and in a panicky situation, trying to simply tell this barrester the important information, so he's focused on THAT, the task at hand. No one can just instantly come up with the most optimal, perfect plan in a situation like that, it takes time for things to organically and naturally progress to that point.

What you are saying is the movie should've taken shortcuts instead of letting the characters play it out organically.. which makes for a funnier or more entertaining scene?