Film Reviews

Fun with Dick and Jane

• Rating:
• Director: Dean Parisot
• Starring: Alec Baldwin
• Details: US, 90mins, 12s.

Just promoted to Vice President of a global company run by multi-billionaire Jack (Baldwin), things are looking up for Dick Harper (Carrey) - so much so that he convinces his wife Jane (Leoni) to quit her job. However, on his first day at the office, Dick finds that the company is in liquidation and Jack has jumped ship, leaving the employees and shareholders holding the bag. With bills starting to mount up and their house under threat of repossession, Dick and Jane are forced to resort to crime to make ends meet. Soon robbing banks seems like another day at the office, but when an opportunity to give Jack his just desserts crops up, Dick and Jane find it too tempting to pass up.
Fun with Dick and Jane is a wolf in sheep's clothing - a comedy with a serious social commentary subtext. A remake of the '70s screwball comedy starring George Segal and Jane Fonda, this takes on a whole other nuance here; with America's economy on the downturn, Fun with Dick and Jane is comment on today's financial system and how it is tearing the honest middle-class apart. "We played by the rules and got screwed!" Carrey screams on behalf of the American citizenry, while Baldwin is a thinly disguised George Bush (even riffing on his 'Watch this drive' speech from Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911). But this is essentially a comedy, and Jim Carrey fans will leave satisfied as he pulls his customary funny faces, silly accents, muscle spasms and body jerks. Nonetheless, he's more understated than usual here, hoping that his fans will get the point of the whole exercise.

Review by Gavin Burke