The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)
August 15, 2024 12:18 AM - Subscribe
Wallace Ritchie is mistaken for a spy and must stop a plot to assassinate international leaders at a banquet.
In London to celebrate his birthday with James (Peter Gallagher), his rich younger brother, hapless American Wallace Ritchie (Bill Murray) gets signed up to participate in an elaborate role-playing theater performance. However, when Wallace accidentally receives a call intended for an actual hit man, he gets caught in a web of intrigue, completely unaware that the action unfolding around him is real. Luckily, the lovely Lori (Joanne Whalley) is around to help the clueless guy out of tight spots.
Clare Martin: The rest of the cast put their all into it, keeping the film’s momentum going. Whalley does what she can with the part of Lori, despite the character being predictably underwritten. Sure, she’s meant to be the stereotypical femme fatale, but the writers give Lori some funny throwaway lines that show off Whalley’s versatility, whether she’s comparing handcuffs with a cop or telling an elderly woman how best to spank her husband. Alfred Molina is also a delight; he plays the oddly likable assassin Boris the Butcher, who would like to settle down and get to chopping up livestock rather than human beings. Molina plays dangerous well and he’s hilarious to boot. (One of the funnier moments in the movie has to be when Boris and his cronies wish Wallace a dead-pan “happy birthday.”) Gallagher is well cast as the handsome jackass of an older brother, all too ready to pawn Wallace off on some actors instead of indulging him for a few hours. Shout out to his glorious eyebrows—and Molina’s too, for that matter. The supporting cast in general do a lot of heavy lifting, with Richard Wilson regularly stealing scenes as the conniving warhawk Sir Roger.
Alissa Wilkinson: I suppose that’s exactly what I love about it. The Man Who Knew Too Little relies on some jokes but mostly dramatic irony for its comedy. I have to look up the definition of dramatic irony every time I write about it to make sure I’ve got it right, so here it is: It’s a literary technique originated by the Greeks in which the audience knows the significance of a character’s words or actions more fully than the character does.
The Greeks used the technique in their tragedies, but it’s often been co-opted in our day to make people laugh, particularly in sitcoms—chief among these the classic trope in which one character thinks he’s talking about football while the other character is discussing, say, a date he went on last night. Whatever they say is much funnier to us than to them, because we know both sides of the equation. It can be overdone, but it’s overdone precisely because when it’s done well, it’s hysterical. Even kids love it.
Perhaps my love for an entire movie of this sort of humor just proves I’m a kid. I love a film that stars the world’s biggest kid, Bill Murray, bumbling his way fearlessly through a string of terrifying situations. In the movie, he plays an accidental idiot savant who thinks he’s in an immersive play but is actually taking out bad guys, defusing bombs, saving the world, and getting the girl, all because he has stumbled backward into that old maxim: What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
Rita Kempley: Wallace (Bill Murray), an affable doofus from Des Moines, pays a surprise visit to his wealthy, London-based brother, James (Peter Gallagher), on the night James is hosting a high-profile dinner party. James and his wife, fearful that Wallace will embarrass them, buy him a ticket to the "Theater of Life," a participatory drama in which the ticket-holder assumes a character and joins the actors playing out high drama in real-life settings.
The show always begins with a phone call specifying a character name and place to meet, but Wallace unknowing intercepts a real call and is mistaken for a secret agent by a cabal of Cold Warriors bent on bringing back the good old days. Blissfully unaware of the real danger and just plain lucky, Wallace manages to flummox the evil-doers at every, ridiculous turn.
Trailer
In London to celebrate his birthday with James (Peter Gallagher), his rich younger brother, hapless American Wallace Ritchie (Bill Murray) gets signed up to participate in an elaborate role-playing theater performance. However, when Wallace accidentally receives a call intended for an actual hit man, he gets caught in a web of intrigue, completely unaware that the action unfolding around him is real. Luckily, the lovely Lori (Joanne Whalley) is around to help the clueless guy out of tight spots.
Clare Martin: The rest of the cast put their all into it, keeping the film’s momentum going. Whalley does what she can with the part of Lori, despite the character being predictably underwritten. Sure, she’s meant to be the stereotypical femme fatale, but the writers give Lori some funny throwaway lines that show off Whalley’s versatility, whether she’s comparing handcuffs with a cop or telling an elderly woman how best to spank her husband. Alfred Molina is also a delight; he plays the oddly likable assassin Boris the Butcher, who would like to settle down and get to chopping up livestock rather than human beings. Molina plays dangerous well and he’s hilarious to boot. (One of the funnier moments in the movie has to be when Boris and his cronies wish Wallace a dead-pan “happy birthday.”) Gallagher is well cast as the handsome jackass of an older brother, all too ready to pawn Wallace off on some actors instead of indulging him for a few hours. Shout out to his glorious eyebrows—and Molina’s too, for that matter. The supporting cast in general do a lot of heavy lifting, with Richard Wilson regularly stealing scenes as the conniving warhawk Sir Roger.
Alissa Wilkinson: I suppose that’s exactly what I love about it. The Man Who Knew Too Little relies on some jokes but mostly dramatic irony for its comedy. I have to look up the definition of dramatic irony every time I write about it to make sure I’ve got it right, so here it is: It’s a literary technique originated by the Greeks in which the audience knows the significance of a character’s words or actions more fully than the character does.
The Greeks used the technique in their tragedies, but it’s often been co-opted in our day to make people laugh, particularly in sitcoms—chief among these the classic trope in which one character thinks he’s talking about football while the other character is discussing, say, a date he went on last night. Whatever they say is much funnier to us than to them, because we know both sides of the equation. It can be overdone, but it’s overdone precisely because when it’s done well, it’s hysterical. Even kids love it.
Perhaps my love for an entire movie of this sort of humor just proves I’m a kid. I love a film that stars the world’s biggest kid, Bill Murray, bumbling his way fearlessly through a string of terrifying situations. In the movie, he plays an accidental idiot savant who thinks he’s in an immersive play but is actually taking out bad guys, defusing bombs, saving the world, and getting the girl, all because he has stumbled backward into that old maxim: What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
Rita Kempley: Wallace (Bill Murray), an affable doofus from Des Moines, pays a surprise visit to his wealthy, London-based brother, James (Peter Gallagher), on the night James is hosting a high-profile dinner party. James and his wife, fearful that Wallace will embarrass them, buy him a ticket to the "Theater of Life," a participatory drama in which the ticket-holder assumes a character and joins the actors playing out high drama in real-life settings.
The show always begins with a phone call specifying a character name and place to meet, but Wallace unknowing intercepts a real call and is mistaken for a secret agent by a cabal of Cold Warriors bent on bringing back the good old days. Blissfully unaware of the real danger and just plain lucky, Wallace manages to flummox the evil-doers at every, ridiculous turn.
Trailer
A chick I once worked with promised me this was the funniest movie ever.
No dear friends, it was not.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 2:39 PM on August 15 [1 favorite]
No dear friends, it was not.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 2:39 PM on August 15 [1 favorite]
If you can watch the car chase without laughing, you are made of different stuff than I.
posted by funkaspuck at 3:29 PM on August 15
posted by funkaspuck at 3:29 PM on August 15
I have vague positive memories about this movie, filed alongside similar "normal guy accidentally stumbles into high stakes drama and comically saves the day" films like The Man with One Red Shoe, Hanky Panky, and, to a certain extant, various Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor co-starring films. I kinda prefer 80s & 90s Bill Murray to post-2000 Bill Murray (lemme hear it for Quick Change!), so I'll have to track this one down.
posted by Saxon Kane at 4:28 PM on August 15 [1 favorite]
posted by Saxon Kane at 4:28 PM on August 15 [1 favorite]
I also love the character progression of Alfred Molina who goes from ready to kill him to embracing him at the end saying he's always to be his brother, it's just so good.
posted by Carillon at 6:10 PM on August 15 [2 favorites]
posted by Carillon at 6:10 PM on August 15 [2 favorites]
This is one of my favorite comedies of all time. I love it so much. One day I stumbled on the contemporary reviews and saw it was panned so hard and I just didn't understand what was going on.
posted by Garm at 5:34 AM on August 16 [2 favorites]
posted by Garm at 5:34 AM on August 16 [2 favorites]
Watching this last night, it's not exactly a great movie, but there are some parts that had me doubled over with laughter. The humor really relies on the supporting cast totally buying into the idea that Bill Murray's character is a totally insane yet hyper competent hitman. Murray himself is good -- although he doesn't quite have the same levels of naivete and ingenuousness that made something like What About Bob? work; there are definitely a few moments when I saw hints of the more cynical performer he's become and I didn't quite believe him as the harmless doofus he's meant to be here, but for the most part he does a good job. But again, it's the supporting cast, as Clare Martin's review above mentions -- Richard Wilson does an amazing job in one scene where he's telling Wallace in spy code to murder someone and dispose of the body: "Did you go with her into the bathroom? Did you flush? Tell him to flush her! Spencer knows how to deal with floaters!" It's so ludicrous and funny, but he sells it like it's the most serious conversation in the world.
Oh and a little Easter Egg at the end: When the CIA officials are watching Wallace on the beach and send in an agent to test him, they call the agent "Venkman."
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:08 PM on August 16
Oh and a little Easter Egg at the end: When the CIA officials are watching Wallace on the beach and send in an agent to test him, they call the agent "Venkman."
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:08 PM on August 16
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posted by Carillon at 12:24 AM on August 15 [1 favorite]