The Man Who Knew Too Little

Wallace Ritchie, an American visiting London for his birthday, is a naive man with dreams of acting. His brother James, a busy banker preparing a crucial business dinner, buys him a ticket to an interactive theatre experience called "Theatre of Life" to keep him occupied for the evening. Through a case of mistaken identity, Wallace walks into a real espionage operation involving British and Russian agents instead of the performance he expects. Convinced that everything unfolding around him is part of the show, he follows the instructions of his contacts and stumbles through dangerous situations with more luck than skill, until he decides to change the script.

The film is a comedy thriller directed by Jon Amiel, released in 1997 as the fifth of the eight features he directed, between Copycat and Entrapment. Bill Murray plays Wallace, with Peter Gallagher as his brother, Joanne Whalley, Alfred Molina, Richard Wilson and John Standing among the 59 credited cast members. Howard Franklin and Robert Farrar wrote the screenplay, and Arnon Milchan, Michael G. Nathanson and Mark Tarlov produced it for Warner Bros. Pictures and Regency Enterprises on a budget of 20 million dollars. It earned 14 million dollars worldwide, less than its cost.

Audience reception has been moderate. On IMDb it holds 6.6 out of 10 from around 37,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.4 out of 10 from roughly 600 votes. A critics' rating of 5.4 out of 10 from 37 reviews places it below both audience scores, suggesting viewers responded to the comedy rather more warmly than reviewers did.