The Man Who Knew Too Little Review
by "Ted Prigge" (chandlerb AT geocities DOT com)February 20th, 1998
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE (1997)
A Film Review by Ted Prigge
Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Director: Jon Amiel
Writers: Robert Farrar and Howard Franklin (based on the novel "Watch That Man" by Robert Farrar)
Starring: Bill Murray, Joanne Whalley, Peter Gallagher, Alfred Molina, Richard Wilson, Geraldine James, John Standing, Anna Chancellor, Nicholas Woodeson, Simon Chandler
Weeks before Bill Murray's new vehicle, "The Man Who Knew Too Little," opened, we the television viewing public were forced to see commercial after commercial after commercial of Bill Murray claiming that this movie was so funny that if anyone thought otherwise and was able to track him down, he'd pay him money back. I'd like to trash this, saying I'd love to track him down just for the whopping 75 cents I paid to see this at my college's crap movie theater, but the truth is, yes, I did laugh. A bit. While it's nowhere near a good film, this is entertaining enough for me not to crucify it and the commercial Bill was so full of himself to make.
Contrary to the title (which is, admittingly, a very good, funny title), "The Man Who Knew Too Little" is not a spoof on the old Hitchcock classic twice made (both by him), which featured a family's pursuit for their kidnapped daughter by thugs who are planning to assasinate a public official. This is a film about a kind of slow-witted guy, Wallace Ritchie (Murray), who accidentally gets involved in international intrigue via a giant misunderstanding, and never finds out the truth.
Wallace's brother, James (Peter Gallagher), lives in London and is shocked by his unannounced arrival at his house, and the night he gets in, James is holding a major business dinner, and doesn't want Wallace to muck it up. So...he gets Wallace tickets for a weird kind of live theatre called "The Theatre of the Living Arts," who set up the paritcipant in a complex situation involving international intrigue and all that good Bond-ian stuff, all starring actors, of course.
But when Wallace picks up the phone he's told to by the actors, he instead gets a call from a real group of baddies, and subsequently gets himself into a giant international incident. The film's script is delicately written so that everything is able to be understood in two ways, so Wallace never finds out that it's real, and the bad guys never find out that he's not.
Along the way, Wallace runs into a seductress trapped in the incident, but needing a way out - Lori (Joanne Whalley - formally Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, but not as of around the time "Batman Forver" came out) - who soon starts to fall in love with Wallace. Also involved are some Russian assasins (they always have some part in internation incident films), headed by Boris, played by Alfred Molina, a chameleon-esque actor who's starred in dozens of popular films, but never looking or sounding the same (last seen as the "Sister Christian"-loving dope drug dealer guy in "Boogie Nights").
While the film is pretty nicely written (for a Bill Murray vehicle anyway), it does drag on a bit as it never changes its tune. I kinda respect that everything can be taken both ways, but maybe a change somewhere in the storyline might result in a film which is funnier and less redundant. Sure, it's funny for awhile, and the film does have some comical set pieces (I actually dug the window ledge scene a bit), but they get tiresome.
The ending, featuring Wallace somehow accidentally involved in a Russian Cossack dance troupe, is funny, but afterwards feels forced. The set-ups for not letting anyone know Wallace is not a spy get especially clumsy, and several things feel forced. And the credit sequence, featuring Murray doing a long rant of comedy, is so annoying that I high-tailed it out of there before it blackened up (but since the credits were already up, I don't think that really constitutes as "walking out").
I will say that Murray is really funny, and his character is likable, but this is not the best character Murray has ever played. Murray playing a droll, intelligent goof is what he does best, as is what he did in "Ghostbusters" and "Groundhog Day" (although he was also a jerk at the beginning of the latter...but a likable jerk). He's a brilliant comic at his best, but any less and he either seems just likable or annoying. His performance here is merely likable, but at least it's competent.
But I will say that the direction is surprisingly good (I'm going out on a limb here). Jon Amiel actually works very well with the camera, and creates a film which feels like the faux-spy film it should feel like. The dark lighting creates a great mood to the film, and at several instances in the film, I was actually into it.
But unfortunately, "The Man Who Knew Too Little" is not good enough to garner a positive rating (at least from me). The gimmick runs very thin as it goes on (luckily enough this was only a 93 minute film), and by the end, I just didn't really care or laugh enough for me walk out with a smile on my face. But still, it's not a bad film, and therefore, gets a "not bad" rating out of me. Better luck next time, eh Bill?
MY RATING (out of 4): **1/2
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