Throwback Thursday: 'The Man Who Knew Too Little' Review

Today we’re gonna talk about one of the best comedic leading men of all time. From films like ‘Groundhog Day (1993)’ to ‘Ghostbusters (1984)’ to ‘What About Bob? (1991)’, Bill Murray has been entertaining us for decades. And no matter the quality of the film, everyone always seems to be okay with it, just because he’s Bill Murray. And today we are going to look at one of his lesser known films, that just happens to be one of my favorites of his, ‘The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)’.

No one plays stupid like Murray, and I believe he plays it best here. When his brother is trying to get rid of him, he finds this “spy experience” and signs him up; unfortunately, he accidentally gets wrapped up in a real-life action-packed adventure full of deceit. Which proves for some great comedy. Unfortunately, the movie around him does not and seemingly can not reach that same level of humor. The rest of the characters are disappointedly flat, all except for Murray’s devious love interest Lori (played by Joanna Whalley). She goes toe-to-toe with him as his perfect straight-man… or straight-woman, I suppose. However, with the predictable plot and surface level side characters, the whole movie rests entirely on our two leads.

All in all, this is a surprisingly funny movie made at Bill Murray’s prime. And even with the ultimately uninspired plot and cast, Murray and Whalley journey through the film with some amount of grace and a good amount of hilarity and hijinx. I'm going to give the film a ‘5 out of 10’. What do you think? Do you want to see this movie? Let us know in the comments below!