SnoopyStyle 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.

david-sarkies When I first heard of this movie I was intrigued by the title - it, in my own weird way, thought it was clever. It looked cute, and a few friends said that it was funny, so I could not resist watching it. One complaint though is that the video cover is not as good as the movie poster, where they had Bill Murry pointing an oversized gun out at you.The movie is about a naive man, Wallace Ritchie, who comes to London to surprise his brother, but must be occupied for the night as his brother has an important dinner. So his brother enrolls him in something called the theatre of life, where the audience participates in the action. Unfortunately Wallace picks up the wrong phone call and gets caught up in a cloak and dagger mission, which he believes is all acting.The comedy from this movie comes from two areas: in one way it is slap-stick, but the real thrust of the comedy is the fact the people do not know something, yet assume that they do. They do not know who Wallace is and think that he is a dangerous spy, yet he is just an ordinary guy. What adds to it is that Wallace was mugged at the beginning so he has no identification, yet they think even more that he is a spy. What is even funnier is that Wallace thinks he is simply in an interactive theatre, and treats it as such. While all of this seriousness goes on around him, he seems to be having the time of his life. Even more, Ritchie's clumsiness gets him out of a lot of predicaments and makes the bad guys think even more that he is a dangerous spy.I really enjoyed this movie. Most comedies I do not find funny, but once in a while one comes out that is quite funny (though some are simply pure hilarity, such as Analyse This!). This is a humorous (though not outrageously funny) comedy.

deadzombie A Bill Murray vehicle which is all over the road. Pee Wee Herman would have made a better secret agent. The writers pulled out all the B movie plots to write this. Bill Murray "Secret Agent" in London, falls into a "secret plot" to kill some Prime Minister.A Call girl to the British Defense Minister has "secret letters" that means absolutely nothing to anyone. Russian "secret" agents grab Murray and hold him for something.Scotland yard is looking for Bill Murray who are as competent as Pee Wee Herman finding his Bicycle at the Alamo.The British Secret Service agents are older then the Queen. There is a summit between Russian,British,German,American Embassadors and absolutely no security at a Hotel in London. Meanwhile Russian agents want to torture Bill Murray for some unknown and stupid reason kind of like the three stooges.Anyway an old Gezzer couple dressed in leather are performing S&M acts,absolutely hideous script.What moron wrote this movie. ?Why would any good actor agree to appear in this movie.It states that it cost $20,000,000 to make this movie. unless I read this wrong.It grossed like $10,000,000 worldwide.

funkyfry This is a quirky film that can't help being a "small" film, with star Bill Murray halfway between the more dignified actorly stage of his later career and the goofy mannerisms of his early prime. The plot is fun, but highly contrived -- Murray plays an American tourist in London whose brother (Peter Gallagher) tries to get him out of his hair by booking him into a "live theater" experience. Murray's character, Wally, is mistaken for a real hit man and finds himself caught up in an international conspiracy to bring the cold war back.There are a lot of good solid laughs coming from the situational comedy of Murray's predicament -- he never realizes at any point that it's not all a game, so he constantly puts himself in danger. Along the way he picks up the mistress of a government official (Joanne Whalley) and falls for her. Whalley unfortunately can't carry the kind of emotional weight they've put on her. Gallagher and Alfred Molina grab most of the unexpected laughs. The climax is a bit predictable and under-whelming.I found myself enjoying this one more when I first saw it in the late 90s. Perhaps the premise of the cold war situation is even more stale now than it was in 1998. Basically though I think this is a fun, light movie that works well for one viewing but can't really be cherished the way Murray's best comedies can. The direction by Amiel is uninspired and uninvolving (the only other film I've seen by Amiel is the disappointing heist film "Entrapment"). You have to wonder if the whole thing was just a frozen funds tax write-off for the company that produced it. There are enough laughs in the first part, especially a funny car chase and miscommunication between the two brothers. However the film doesn't fully pay off the viewer's investment.