Film

Water

Name: Water
Genre: Adventure, Comedy
Released: 1985
Cast: Michael Caine, Valerie Perrine, Brenda Vaccaro, Leonard Rossiter, Billy Connolly

Comedy
Light-hearted

A 1985 British comedy about a colonial governor's island thrown into chaos when an American corporation discovers vast mineral water reserves. It's a satirical scramble for profit and power, mixing farce with genuine barbs at imperialism, corporate greed, and postcolonial absurdity. Silly but pointed—for viewers who want their laughs with a side-eye at history.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy broad, slightly creaky British farce where a stiff official's dignity gets steadily punctured by greedy outsiders and his own bad judgment, and you don't mind the jokes landing unevenly.

Skip it if you need your comedy tight and controlled, since this one sprawls, wanders between slapstick and political sniping, and leans on its cast more than its jokes.

What it asks of you: An easygoing ninety-eight minutes that unspools at a lazy island pace, happy to wander and keep its eye on the sunshine rather than on tight plotting.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Local Hero1983

A Scottish oil executive sent to secure a village for development finds himself charmed into questioning everything. Bill Forsyth's comic touch is gentler than Water's, but the collision between corporate interests and small-community life hits the same sweet spot.

But It moves slowly and relies on the pleasure of character over plot. If you need constant momentum, you'll find it meandering.

The Mouse That Roared1959

A tiny European duchy declares war on America to lose gracefully and win aid—another shrewd satire of power, geopolitics, and the absurdity of nations. Peter Sellers in multiple roles, and the script is razor-sharp about who really holds the cards.

But The 1950s production values and Cold War specificity will feel dated. Some jokes don't travel.

Eat the Rich1987

Also directed by Dick Clement, this slapstick fantasy has working-class kids turning a posh restaurant into a weapon against privilege. Messier and meaner-spirited than Water, but the anarchic energy and contempt for the powerful are kindred.

But It's less coherent and more openly crude. The satire can get lost in the chaos.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Water

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Under Milk Wood1972

Both celebrate the texture of small communities under pressure from larger forces. Water does it through farce; this does it through poetry. Both are ultimately about dignity in the face of invasion.

Dylan Thomas's poetic portrait of a Welsh village—all gossip, eccentricity, and small lives layered with myth. It's a film about a community resisting the outside world, but through dreamlike language rather than plot. A radically different mode of storytelling about place and power.

But It's slow, literary, and has no conventional narrative arc. If you want a story to happen, this will frustrate you.

Trading Places1983

Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in a gleefully cynical romp about class, money, and con artistry. The plotting is sharper than Water's, and John Landis keeps it moving with real stakes and revenge.

But It's a product of 1980s excess in every way. The comedy won't feel fresh if you've seen it before.

The Ladykillers1955

Ealing Studios at their finest: criminals posing as musicians to rob a bank, undone by an old landlady. It has Water's mix of scheming, incompetence, and a keen eye for human nature beneath the caper.

But The pacing is leisurely by modern standards, and some character humor will feel quaint.

Club Paradise1986

Robin Williams runs a resort on a Caribbean island seized from developers—another corporate-versus-paradise story, closer in tone to Water than most. Harold Ramis directed, and the setting mirrors the conflict.

But It's uneven and at times feels like Williams riffing rather than performing. The satire is softer and less coherent.

The Players Club1998

An ensemble comedy about hustlers, schemes, and survival in a hostile system. Less specifically political than Water, but the spirit of underdogs using cunning to beat the system feels aligned.

But It's scattered and occasionally crude. The film tries to do too much and some subplots go nowhere.

A Fish Called Wanda1988

A crime caper with barbs about national character and class. It's sharper and faster than Water, but shares the British knack for mixing slapstick with genuine edge about power and desire.

But The tone is much darker and the violence less forgiving. It's a harder film.

Permissive1970

A lesser-known British sex comedy about colonial attitudes and liberation. It's messier and more explicit than Water, but plays in the same sandbox of authority being ridiculous.

But It's genuinely dated and the humor lands unevenly. The sexual content is more awkward than amusing now.

The Gods Must Be Crazy1980

Both stage the collision between indigenous life and Western intrusion through comedy. But where Water satirizes the West's presumption, this film lets the non-Western perspective win. They're inversions of each other.

A Kalahari bushman finds a Coke bottle and travels across modern Africa to return it to 'the gods.' It's a genuinely funny fish-out-of-water comedy that quietly demolishes Western assumptions about progress and development. Shot in Africa, in Afrikaans and English, with a perspective you don't often see.

But It's structured as comedy vignettes rather than a taut plot. The fish-out-of-water humor is broad. The film's politics are complex and some will find it patronizing.

A Man Escaped1956

Both pit individual cunning against institutional power. Water makes it a joke; this makes it matter. Same engine, opposite temperature. Watching them together shows how tone shapes meaning without changing structure.

Robert Bresson's austere masterpiece about a French prisoner planning escape in Nazi-occupied Lyon. Utterly serious and spare where Water is silly and cluttered. But both are fundamentally about small people resisting larger systems through ingenuity and will. A completely different register shows how universal the pattern is.

But It's a 68-minute black-and-white film with minimal dialogue and no score. It demands patience and engagement. It will feel like punishment if you're not in the mood.