The Man Who Knew Too Little Review
by Scott Renshaw (renshaw AT inconnect DOT com)November 13th, 1997
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE
(Warner Bros.)
Starring: Bill Murray, Peter Gallagher, Joanne Whalley, Alfred Molina. Screenplay: Robert Farrar and Howard Franklin, based on the novel "Watch That Man" by Robert Farrar.
Producers: Arnon Milchan, Michael G. Nathanson, Mark Tarlov. Director: Jon Amiel.
MPAA Rating: PG (profanity, adult themes, mild violence) Running Time: 92 minutes.
Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
At last we can answer the question that has plagued movie-goers for ages: what would the PINK PANTHER films have been like if Bill Murray had played Inspector Clouseau? All right, perhaps "plagued" is too strong a word. In fact, it's likely that no one has ever asked the question, probably because the answer seemed obvious. Murray's stock-in-trade is the guy who pokes holes in everyone around him, smugly convinced that he's one step ahead of the pack. Clouseau was similarly convinced; he was also thoroughly self-deluding. Playing Clouseau would require Murray to play dumb with complete earnestness. Could he really stop winking self-knowingly long enough for us to buy him as an idiot?
The answer, unfortunately, is not really. THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE is a de facto Clouseau premise, casting Murray as a schlub named Wallace Ritchie whose unreasonable dreams of acting prowess have been diverted into working at a Blockbuster Video in Des Moines, Iowa. While on a birthday trip to see his successful brother James (Peter Gallagher) in London, Wallace gets a chance to perform again when James signs him up for an audience-participation role-playing experience called Theatre of Life. No sooner is Wallace expecting a call to send him on a staged adventure than he receives a call which sends him on a real (unknown to him) adventure, one which places the future of Anglo-Russian detente in Wallace's oblivious hands.
Though the comedic mistaken-identity premise is sporting more than a few gray whiskers, it can still work with the right lead performer. Murray is a wonderful comic actor, the kind who can turn a simple reaction take into a monster laugh, but he is at his best when asked to stand outside the action and comment on its absurdity. There's never a moment in THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE when Murray convinces you that he isn't hip to exactly what's going on; he's too self-aware to immerse himself in cluelessness. Eventually, the premise begins to feel like an elaborate waste of Murray's time. He's forced to play a fake pseudo-suave agent who accidentally outsmarts the bad guys, when he should be playing a real pseudo-suave agent who quite intentionally outsmarts the bad guys.
Ironically, THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE is still at its funniest when it just lets Murray be Murray. His off-hand quips are frequently good for a chuckle, providing goofy running commentary on the overly elaborate silliness of secret agent capers. They're also entirely out of place for his character. Murray is sharper than this concept, and he shows it by spending most of his time looking for gags in all the wrong places, fighting against the premise instead of trying to make it work. Like a superstar on a mediocre high school basketball team, he begins freelancing, leaving the rest of the team to stand around and wait for him to do whatever it is he wants to do.
There are a few worth-while moments for the supporting cast, notably Alfred Molina as a Russian agent who develops a grudging respect for his "brilliant" American adversary, which show signs of life in a generally under-whelming script. For the most part, THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE is a less-than-stellar episode of The Bill Murray Show, sporadically amusing when it doesn't burden the top attraction with an over-stuffed plot -- German businessmen, British and Russian secret agents, a hooker-with-a-heart-and-wardrobe-of-gold, exploding Matryoshka dolls, and what the McGuffin was going on with those carefully tied letters everyone gets so worked up over? -- ill-suited to his talents. It all adds up to more stuff for Murray to smirk at, in a role where smirking should have been strictly prohibited. For a man who knows too little, he acts like he knows it all.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 agents of misfortune: 5.
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