Otto: "Don't call me stupid."

One of the funniest movies of the 1980s. Written by John Cleese and Charles Crichton, directed by Crichton (though a little birdie tells me that Cleese himself did most of the work), and released in 1988. The caper comedy starred John Cleese as uptight barrister Archie, Jamie Lee Curtis as the sexy and brainy Wanda, Kevin Kline as the stupid and sadistic Otto, and Michael Palin as the stuttering, animal-loving Ken.

This is as close as you can get to a picture-perfect ensemble comedy. Each of the main characters gets their time in the spotlight, from Palin's dog-maiming attempts to kill an old woman to Curtis' hilarious put-downs to Cleese's attempts to remain Properly British in the face of death threats and humiliations to almost every scene of Kline's Oscar-winning turn as the world's dumbest hit man. It's not exactly Monty Python, but it's the closest you're going to get in a movie with just one plotline.

Wanda: "You just wanted to get me into bed."
Archie: "I fell in love with you."
Wanda: "How come you dumped me then?"
Archie: "I wasn't rich enough, remember?"
Wanda: "Say something in Russian."
Archie: "No."