User reviews

Anybody who didn't enjoy this movie didn't get it... it was one of the most hilarious parodies I've ever seen. But, perhaps the circumstances of my initial viewing overly influenced my opinion. On a business trip to DC in 1998, I saw "The Game" with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn on the way out... great movie, but very heavy and deep. However on the way back, this movie was playing. Based on initial reviews I wasn't expecting much, but watching it was like someone purposely made a funny version of The Game, and I probably annoyed my fellow passengers as I was laughing so hard. I thought Murray was at his best, not unlike Chevy Chase in the Fletch movies (shame they didn't make more of those), as they were both in their comical element.

The coincidental (or perhaps not) pairing of these two films really added to my enjoyment of both. On a cold rainy weekend, I strongly recommend renting both and watching them in the same order I did… you won't be disappointed!

Jon Amiel's "The Man Who Knew Too Little" is one of the funniest movies that keeps the viewer in a laughing state all the time. Mr. Amiel shows an affinity to comedy as he takes us along for a fun ride into this amusing movie. The film is based on the funny Robert Farrar book, who also adapted the material for the screen.

This film is a sort of comedy of errors in which an innocent man is drawn into an international conspiracy that he has no clue is going on around him because his brother, in order to get him away from his dinner party, decides to treat him to a performance of a play in which the viewer is part of the show.

Little does Wally Ritchie realize what he has gotten into. That's the basic premise for the film, which works well because Wally doesn't suspect what he's involved in. So he goes along for the fun of it, thinking nothing about the bad guys that are trying to get rid of him, for real.

Bill Murray proves he is one of the best comedy actors working today. The sequence involving Mr. Murray dancing with a Russian folk group at the hotel where something terrible is set to occur is just pure perfection. Mr. Murray is a likable actor and never makes himself obnoxious in any situation. He is a delight to watch.

The rest of the cast is good. Peter Gallagher is Wally's brother. Joanne Whalley makes a perfect femme fatale. Alfredo Molina has some excellent moments as Boris, the butcher, the man who wants to eliminate Wally out of the picture.

"The Man Who Knew Too Little" is a fun film to watch thanks to Jon Amiel.

Bill Murray's deadpan humor makes this a movie that is fun to watch even 20+ years later. What makes it even funnier is the length that modern shows have gone to in making "reality shows". The stereotypical Russian, British, Chinese, German and American roles make for great laughs that have been lost in today's politically correct humorless world.

I love comedies, especially spoofs, and action and spy movies. This has all of that. This was so much funnier than Steve Martin trying to reinvent Inspector Clouseau in 2006

First of all....I loved it. Simply put, this film was great. Talk about a story that could have been based upon true life incidents is not what this film is about. This is comedy at its best. Bill Murray's character is a man who manages a Blockbuster-video store someplace in Iowa. Murray decides to take a vacation and visit his brother in London. His brother (Peter Gallagher) is entertaining some important clients that same evening and sends his brother (Murray) out to participate in this audience-interaction play involving spies called the `Theater of Life'. Well, as the play begins, Murray accidentally stumbles into a real-life spy drama and takes everything that happens next as if he is just acting in a play. The result is non-stop humor which leaves the audience busting up outloud. You don't have to love Bill Murray to love this film...he brings to the screen the best parts of his roles in "Scrooged", "Stripes", "Ground Hog Day" and "What About Bob"...you just have to be ready to experience Bill Murray at his best. Bottom line, what might even be funnier than the film, is being part of an uninhibited audience, because once some people begin laughing, they will be at it for the next two hours.

I have always loved Bill Murray ever since his old SNL days, and of course Caddyshack was nothing without him. His unique wit and demeanor are great, and in this spy-spoof he really plays it to a "T".

This flick must have passed me by when it first came out because I heard little about it, but am so glad I picked it up at the rental store. Murray and a relatively obscure supporting cast pull off a mad-cap escapade about a goofball American in London on a whim who stumbles into an international spy/terrorist situation... The movie was a bit predictable, but nonetheless was hilarious and had some great scenes of Murray doing famous lines from other flicks that hit the funny bone dead on.

I recommend this one for a light night of video watching to anyone wanting a smile and a chuckle. Especially if you're a Murray fan, you'll dig it!

It is very rarely that a modern comedy movie can hold my attention all the way through, never mind actually make me laugh. This movie achieved both.

Bill Murray is excellent as Wallace Ritchie the bumbling hero who spends the entire movie thinking he is on theatre t.v. The plot provides plenty of opportunity for Murray to showcase his comic talents. Look out for the "time out I have dust in my eyes scene" or the "robbery takes and retakes" in which Murray is at his best.

Peter Gallagher is also good as Wallace's brother James. Gallagher is the straight man to Murray's fool.

Whalley-Kilmer is also excellent. She plays the female interest for Wallace. She starts out as the intended "hit" and by movies end is in the arms of Murray. She certainly has a certain "spunk" about her that makes her character attractive and tempting to the eye.

Alfred Molina is also a "stand out" as Boris the Butcher. His over the top acting of the Russian hitman is very funny. As the movie goes on, Boris believes that Wallace is actually the greatest spy that exists, and a deepening respect is formed by him.

This is one of the better comedies I have seen in recent times. I gave it a 7/10 and as far as Murray is concerned, this is probably his best work since Groundhog Day and then way back to Ghostbusters. Watch it, you shouldn't be disappointed

Oddly enough, then I hadn't even heard about "The Man Who Knew Too Little" before now, when I happened to stumble upon the movie by luck. But then again, I haven't actively been seeking out Bill Murray's movies, despite him being a great comedian and actor.

"The Man Who Knew Too Little" actually had a good story with lots of hilarious scenes and situations. The movie is filled with loveable characters and Bill Murray was just amazing in this movie.

The movie does have a good cast and good acting performances, from the likes of Bill Murray, Peter Gallagher and Alfred Molina, to mention but those that first comes to mind.

it is definitely worth taking the time to watch this movie, if you haven't already seen it.

That more than adequately sums up my feelings of 'The Man Who Knew Too Little'. It's his show. All the way. There is also no denying this is a rather stupid movie because it has to be. The only prerequisite is the situation must be completely implausible and the main character a complete bulb and on those terms this movie passes with flying colors. Wallace Ritchie (Bill Murray) is a man perhaps the furthest thing from ultra cool and sexy a la James Bond. I guess the fact that he is a forty-plus year old man working at Blockbuster is confirmation of just that.

Coming to visit his brother James (Peter Gallagher), you can see from frame one that he wants nothing more than to get rid of him. Yes, sign him up for some harmless fantasy role-playing. Where's the harm in that? He's supposed to go to a telephone booth and await fake instructions except when he picks up the phone, it's an actual spook relaying him to go to an address. Seconds later, the real assassin approaches the telephone booth and it's the game calling. Some man is pretending to beat up a woman across the street as we can see the window and corresponding sound from the telephone. The assassin without emotion calmly walks across the street and mechanically puts three shells in the male actor. A rare moment of dark humor in an otherwise over-the-top silly movie.

The rest follows a pattern of Wallace stumbling around unaware of what he's really involved in and this illusion he can do / say / try anything without consequence of death is weirdly amusing. Of course, furthest from plausible, but having to be as such. If you can shoulder a sporting Bill Murray carrying the weight in order to save a threadbare story you'll find something to like here. Even though by the end it had worn thin, I had a real good laugh or two and that's more than I can say for most comedies nowadays. A must-watch for Bill Murray fans.

How could so many people miss this amazing performance? Bill Murray pulls off something that hadn't been done since the days of Harold Lloyd: a character who always succeeds despite the fact that he thinks that everything is a game. Like Lloyd's blindfolded wanderings on suspended buildings many stories in the air where he never falls down or gets hurt, Murray triumphs as a super-secret-agent when he thinks the entire thing is a parlor game, a bit of 'real life theatre'. The twists and turns of the plot, the misunderstandings and misinterpretations by everyone around him just add to the giddiness of the whole film. I have rarely been so disappointed when I had to finally concede that it was the end of the story. Give this a second look if you dismissed it as just a silly movie. It's a classic, and one of my 10 best movies of all time.

I watched this movie on a whim and it actually made me laugh out loudly a number of times during its runtime. The movie is about Wallace who is an average guy who gets involved in a spy conspiracy. The catch is that he believes that its all live theater and its all just a very ambitious play.

You probably shouldn't overthink this premise however as you would expect from the premise a number of coincidences and misunderstandings drags Wallace further and further into the complicated plot. It is all rather silly but its quite fun and endearing. Overall i think the cast did a good job, the side characters fit their roles nicely and the two leading actors put a lot of charm into the movie.

It can be quite whimsical and silly and for some people this will probably be off-putting. I found it at times to be a bit too much but overall i thought it was a fun ride. I think that i can conclude by saying that the movie delivers exactly what you would expect out of it from the premise and if you are not into comedy resulting from a number of silly misunderstandings then you are clearly looking at the wrong movie.

Wallace Ritchie (Bill Murray) flies from Des Moines, Iowa to London on his birthday to surprise his brother James (Peter Gallagher). James can't have Wallace in an important business dinner. James set him up with an improv group which places the participant in a realistic crime drama. However it goes all wrong when Wallace answer the payphone used by the improv group but it turns out to be a man hiring hit-man Spencer to kill call girl Lori (Joanne Whalley). The real Spencer answers the call from the improv group and kills one of the actors. Wallace goes along with the intrigue thinking all the while that it's make-believe.

This is fun for about 30 minutes. Bill Murray is irreverent and stupid. However the one-joke movie gets a bit boring. It becomes rather repetitive and rambling.

Although this movie is not quite as funny as What About Bob, I think this is probably Bill Murray's second funniest film, though I strongly doubt if it will be enjoyed as much by the average viewer. That is because, I hate to say, the "average viewer" often is a teenager or adult who likes their comedy very broad and simple. No, this will not appeal to fans of Porky's or Little Nicky because it requires the viewer to have a reasonable attention-span and the ability to enjoy a comedy that doesn't telegraph what will happen next (just how many movies these days are hard to predict anyways?).

The movie is a screwy, difficult to describe spy adventure where everyone knows just how deadly the stakes are---except for Bill Murray's character. He mistakenly thinks everything that is happening around him is a type of performance art (sort of a Theatre of the Absurd). You MUST watch it.

While this movie is neither unique nor intelligent, it is good for a chuckle. Murray plays a wonderful role as the good-hearted bumbler, and Joanne Whalley makes for a great femme-fatale. Turn down your brains (there is the odd witty bit) and enjoy a bit of a laugh. My vote 7/10

The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)

There are those who think Bill Murray can do no wrong, that he has an impeccable comic flair and intelligence that drive even mediocre fare. And I'm one of them.

And this is relatively humdrum stuff on one level--though the basic idea of spoofing a spy superstar is as old and reliable as James Bond himself. (I mean, Bond spoofs were around when Sean Connery was still 007.) And the writing is really very witty here, giving two prongs forward in this mostly funny, always fast affair.

That is--I laughed a lot! That's the goal. The cold war themes of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. going head to head were old even in 1997 but of course not old for James Bond, and this does harken back somehow to the original. Murray plays a classic type--the hero who succeeds by accident. Often, it's the absurdity and illogic of this odd hero that makes him successful, surprising the professionals and seeming brazen and original. And so he is.

The plot is simple--some bad guys have a bomb that's going to go off in five hours. We know that at the start, and so the rest is loaded with anticipation and dread as the deadline nears. We also know (in this sort of movie) that no harm will come to Murray's cheerful, doltish American type. So the race against the clock is a series of gags and spoofs and lucky twists, all good for laughs. Murray is the key to it all, playing the naive participant with that uncanny timing and innocent face too well, over and over. If it were only about Murry this would be a 10 star masterpiece. The rest of the cast, and the eventual inevitability of the plot, hold it back, though. So it is what it is, still a great romp.

You want more than that? You won't get it. But why would you? Enjoy.

Bill Murray plays a man who thinks he's participating in a live action theatre play but is actually in the middle of a spy plot involving a bomb and a hired killer.

There's lots to like here with an increasingly silly plot that ends up with Bill Murray somehow involved in a Russian dance with a bomb inside a matrushka doll. Alfred Molina is good as the Russian assassin and the way that things keep moving manages to prolong the pace well and keep the laughs coming. Sure it's not exactly super smart or original, but as a live action Man Called Flintstone, it works well and is still funny today after all this time.

Average Joe schmuck Murray arrives in UK to visit his brother, and lands in the soup. Something goes terribly awry, and he ends up knee deep in international espionage. The plot is more than a little far-fetched and familiar, yet Murray is so likeable and he does have a few great scenes, that one can't pan it outright. Definitely not an explicit movie, but it is amusing on the whole. Joanne Whalley is a standout as "Lorelei." Recommended for the proverbial rainy day.

They just don't make them like they used to. At least, if you haven't seen 'The Man Who Knew Too Little', you'd probably think that. Many bemoan the decline of that classic genre of film - the old-fashioned British farce. It seems they lost favour for being just that bit too calamitous, too bawdy and too self-indulgently ridiculous. This film is an attempt to recreate the laid-back, cheerful, innocent silliness of those old comedy classics - but how does it avoid those aspects of past farces that made them less palatable to modern viewers and critics? If this film has any failings at all, then it is maybe that it does not avoid the temptation to be just that crucial margin too unbelievable for the viewer. Admittedly, the humour can only work if Murray's character is as truly stupid as he appears to be in failing to grasp the reality of the situation by the end, and if no-one, not even his brother or the call-girl, informs him of it, but although it works wonderfully up to a point, in a way I was hoping he would twig eventually. But that's a minor point. What is more ridiculous still is, of course, the zany manner of his consistent escapes from danger. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not a killjoy and I completely recognise how ludicrous a film of this sort has to be in order to work. Indeed, the utter cluelessness of the lead was a delight to watch, and the comedy was slick, even if the budget was lower than the movie deserved and a few performances (even Richard Wilson, surprisingly) were somewhat wooden. But this didn't detract from a wonderful piece of sit-back-and-enjoy laugh-fest. Whatever its flaws, above all else it is impossible not to get a real feel-good buzz from this film, and a lot of laughs besides. The script manages to stay consistent, and does not - as would be very easy - slip up at all when holding together a quite complicated set of circumstances designed to delude Bill Murray's unlikely superhero. The scenes towards the end clearly owe something to 'Naked Gun', but that is never a bad thing - I thoroughly enjoyed watching this, and the one question you probably want to ask now is: so why criticise at all? Well, while this is a beautiful example of the lost art of farce-making, it also represents a lost opportunity. To have been better still, this movie should ideally have combined the fluid innocence of the chaotic comedy with something newer - maybe make the whole 'cold war' plot idea advance a bit. While I thought the whole subplot that Murray has no clue about was ample for the purposes of the movie, and was suitably unserious, the audiences of today want something more substantial, on the whole, and maybe 'The Man Who Knew Too Little' could have been a box office smash if it had had something innovative like this. As it is, nothing new, not a whole lot you haven't seen before, but this doesn't matter - this film is the best of what the old days comedy had to offer, and it made me laugh lots. Really worth seeing - if only more would follow.

In "Groundhog Day", Bill Murray was the only person who knew what was going on; here, he's the only one who doesn't. And this movie, just like "Groundhog Day", is not recommended to those searching for belly-laughs. You don't so much laugh, as you admire the cleverly conceived and constructed story, where almost every spoken word has a double edge. The ending is a bit overextended, though; after all, it IS an one-joke comedy. (***)

This poorly worded title is a wonderfully absurd farce. London is a perfect backdrop for Bill Murray to perform his shtick as Wallace Ritchie. The supporting cast play to their purposeful stereotypes and most importantly don't get in Murray's way. Peter Gallagher (of 'Orange County' fame) plays a very good straight man as Murray's brother, and Joanne Whalley seems to be playing her part and enjoying watching Murray's performance at the same time. There is a generous supply of double entendres, predictable, but well written and funny. This movie can be enjoyed by families as well as 'adults only'. Don't expect a life changing event, just enjoy a fun movie.

A definite must see for Bill Murray fans. If the sight of him makes you cringe, steer well clear, since this film is all about Murray wandering off the written script to keep things interesting.

I didn't really laugh out loud at all watching this film but enjoyed it nevertheless. I was reminded of Austin Powers as the opening credits rolled, something that initially worried me because AP is a real stinker of comedy. Fortunately, Murray does a much better job here than Myers in his AP ego trip.

PS. Before reading the earlier comments, I too made the connection with "The Game" and Inspector Clouseau.

The title says it all. I like Bill Murray, but boy did they go too far on this one! At least try to make me believe it's possible! No one is as clueless as Wallace in real life, let alone his level of "clumsy luck".

Bill Murray plays goof-ball Wallace Ritchie in London to visit his brother Jimmy (Peter Gallagher) for his own - read: Wallace's - birthday. Since Jimmy is having guests over, he knows that he needs to keep Wallace out of the way. The only problem is, Wallace accidentally gets mixed up in an espionage ring, leading to some embarrassing situations for everyone - mainly because Wallace believes the whole time that it's a play.

As with most of Bill Murray's movies, the plot isn't totally important - it's an excuse for Bill Murray to act crazy. And he does just that in "The Man Who Knew Too Little". Joanne Whalley co-stars as secret agent Lorelei.

This film begins with a man named "Wallace Ritchie" (Bill Murray) deciding at the last minute to take a flight from Iowa to London to celebrate his birthday with his brother "James Ritchie" (Peter Gallagher). Although his brother is more than happy to see him what Wallace doesn't count on is the fact that James has an extremely important business meeting scheduled for that particular day and cannot cancel it. So, at the last minute, James decides to volunteer Wallace to perform in a comedy television show where each person plays a character in a fictional crime drama and has to improvise as the plot unfolds. Wallace readily agrees but what he doesn't know is that he has accidently become involved in a real-life espionage situation with serious international consequences. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I was pleasantly surprised by this film due in large part to the manner in which the story maintained the humor from one scene to the next. Granted it wasn't a great comedy by any means, but it was entertaining for the most part and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.