Fun With Dick and Jane
The Dick and Jane children’s books were created in the 1950’s about two children who grew up together. Many books have been published about the children for children that included an easy to read sentence on each page of only maybe five or six words. The original Fun with Dick and Jane, directed by Ted Kotcheff, starred George Segal as Dick Harper and Jane Fond as Jane Harper. The two are now a married couple, who have lost their money and had to hold armed robberies in order…
Téa Leoni (L) and Jim Carrey star in Columbia Pictures & Imagine Entertainment’s
FUN WITH DICK AND JANE, a Columbia Pictures release. Photo Credit: Ralph Nelson.
Meet Dean Parisot. Dean is a director. He directed Galaxy Quest. Dean just released Fun with Dick and Jane. I did not enjoy Fun with Dick and Jane. Dean did not do a good job with his new film.
The Dick and Jane children’s books were created in the 1950’s about two children who grew up together. Many books have been published about the children for children that included an easy to read sentence on each page of only maybe five or six words. The original “Fun with Dick and Jane,” directed by Ted Kotcheff, starred George Segal as Dick Harper and Jane Fonda as Jane Harper. The two are now a married couple, who have lost their money and had to hold armed robberies in order to pay the bills.
The new film, starring Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni as the couple, follows virtually the same plot and relies on three characters only, the couple and the “trying to be funny†CEO (Alec Baldwin) who sells Carrey out. Dick Harper (Jim Carrey) lives with his wife, Jane (Téa Leoni), and son, Billy, who all live together in a somewhat large house. They also have a housekeeper named Blanca (Gloria Garayua), a Spanish speaking woman who spends a lot of time with their son as the nanny as well, and their son eventually picks up Spanish as a first language. Dick works at Globodyne, a monopoly in the consolidation of media properties. He has just been promoted to vice president to a certain branch of the company. Later, he is selected to make an appearance on business talk show by company by the CEO of Globodyne, Jack McCallister (Alec Baldwin).
Explaining that the company is making profits, Jack is lying to the shareholders, Globodyne is actually going bankrupt, and Jack is taking 400 million and making a run for it. This comes as a huge surprise to everyone and as Dick goes to investigate he finds all the evidence being destroyed. Dick has just told his wife to quit her job because he was doing so well. Now they are both unemployed. After months their money begins to run out. Then, the electricity is cut. They begin selling everything. Until all they have left is an old car, a dark empty house, and each other. Many of his fellow ex-employees are desperate for jobs as well, and engage in illegal activities. As the family grows even more desperate, they have to pay their housekeeper in home appliances. Late one night, after attempting to replace the lawn, Dick and Jane attempt to hold up a mini-mart. They get away with a slushie. The next time they attempt it, they get away with a lot of money after holding up an empty bar. What a rush…
In Fun with Dick and Jane, we don’t get the fun Carrey we have in previous movies. He has no roaring personality, he’s a more serious figure put into a humorous film, which ceases to work at all. The film is almost desperate for humor, one of the most humorous scenes was when Dick is sitting at home without a job, bored, entertaining himself by jumping over stair-railings. The writing could have been much better, and more jokes, at least humorous ones could have been attempted. In a sense, the film was holding back from what could have been true humor, to relentless sight gags and clumsy robberies. Their son, Billy, the Spanish speaking wonder is humorous to begin with, but gets more irritating than funny as the film drags along. Baldwin’s character is also poorly written; he’s given a southern accent and is constantly taking vacations even after his company has collapsed.
The writers rely on a current political figure as a character rather than coming up with their own unique personality. Otherwise we get no true laughs in the film, except a few instances when Carrey and Leoni are parading around in outrageous disguises. The original score, composed by Barry Robinson, is light, mischievous and fun, but throughout the film we get this heavy techno rock that is extremely distracting from the onscreen happenings, not to mention doesn’t really fit to what is going on in the film.
The film relies on desperate humor in order to make the film at all, with a limited cast, and the small amount of characters it’s hard to hold the plot together. Carrey could have been much better, and perhaps the part just wasn’t right for Leoni. A fun score that turns over enthusiastic and distracting ruins a few scenes in the film and could have been more mischievous. See Dean. See Dean direct. Think before seeing Dean’s next film.
Fun With Dick and Jane • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Running Time: 90 minutes • MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief language, some sexual humor and occasional humorous drug references. • Distributed by Columbia Pictures