Les folies de Dick et Jane

"Fun with Dick and Jane" reflects, in many ways, what's wrong with our society. We watch in disbelief as more and more CEOs are hauled up to jail and how these unscrupulous people leave their once valued employees to fend for themselves, as best they can.

Dan Perisot directs this remake of the 1977 Jane Fonda-George Segal vehicle and brings it up to date. He counts with two actors that are popular to present this new installment in a funny way, Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni in the main roles.

Poor Dick finds out in the worst way the job he held has just disappeared and must face reality. Dick and Jane must deal with their sudden status as they see their electricity cut, their housekeeper deserts them and Dick suffers the indignity of having to compete with other unemployed, former colleagues, for jobs that aren't half as glamorous as the vice-presidency he almost had.

What's a desperate man to do? Well, being a resourceful man, he must do what he has to. Jane and Dick start a path into taking the law into their own hands.

In a way, Mr. Carrey, one of the producers, mixes a serious problem with his kind of comedy. Jim Carrey is one of the best comedians working in movies today, but he also has an enormous talent for doing some serious dramatic work, as he has already proved. He is a dynamo in the film and turns the situation Dick is facing into fun, in his own way.

Tea Leoni, is equally suited to play Jane, the travel agent who suddenly sees all those comforts she was used to, disappear, and must adapt to her new circumstances. Ms. Leoni and Mr. Carrey do some funny things together, making the film look much better than what could have been. The supporting players, mainly Alec Baldwin and Richard Jenkins make good contributions to the film.

"Fun with Dick and Jane" is a typical example of those holiday themed films the studios love to unload at the end of the year.

In previews and early reviews this movie was called "one of the funniest movies ever" and I was eager to see it. But after a while it began to get called "the worst Jim Carrey movie ever". I still thought I should see it, being a big Jim Carrey fan, plus I haven't always agreed with the critics. After seeing it I can't say it's the funniest movie ever, but it definitely isn't the worst.

I have not seen the original version, but I'm sure there are some modern plot twists and of course original jokes. There are plenty of gags and funny situations that kept me entertained throughout and some really good ones that made me laugh hysterically. Many comedies are very silly which makes them so funny, but people have said that this movie is just silly and not funny at all, I can't agree. While there are some small parts that are just silly, the rest are not.

Acting wise it is quite good. Jim Carrey does his trademark craziness well in this one. The rest of the cast do well too.

Overall it's a funny, entertaining movie. If you feel like a light comedy with some good laughs, ignore the harsh critics and go and see it.

Jim Carrey has come a long way since his early days on In Living Color. He became a hit actor in the likes of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (a personal childhood favourite), The Mask and Dumb and Dumber. He tried hard for an Oscar nom, but always contended with winning Golden Globes. And for years now, he has basically been bouncing around dramas, comedies, and dramedies. So now, he has tackled a remake (of a comedy no less), and the results as per the last few years, are mixed at best.

Carrey is Dick, an employee at Globodyne (read: Enron) who is promoted just in time to help sail the company into oblivion on television. He tells his wife Jane (Tea Leoni) to leave her job only hours before hand, and upon returning stunning home, realizes that he may be in a bit of trouble. As the months go on, the pair's assets slowly begin to dwindle, and hope for continued survival begins to evaporate. So with nothing left to do, they turn to life of petty crime and hope for the best.

It is not an original concept at all, but Carrey and Leoni do a valiant job keeping this boat floating. While the film does have a few hilarious moments, the rest of it is bogged down by mere snicker-filled sequences or just scenes that are totally unfunny. It's not like these two actors are having any trouble being funny, it's that the material is not funny. Judd Apatow did wonders with The 40-Year-Old Virgin, but he fumbles here pretty hard with his writing partner Nicholas Stoller, who does not have nearly enough credits to his name. A parody on what happened at Enron was inevitable, but this just seems lackluster and barely thought out. Subplots are brought in, but barely resolved, and the key storyline just feels very weak by the end. It's not terrible, it just feels a tad bit incomplete.

The sorry thing about the entire film is the fact that much of it just feels like an extended montage with little payoff. It is only ninety minutes long, so it feels like a lot was trimmed down or cut right out. But the film suffers as a result. If it was longer, it undoubtedly could have had more potential for more funny moments, and as a whole, feel more complete.

While Carrey and Leoni do their best, it's Leoni who gives a stronger performance. Yes, Carrey is right at home with his zany character, and totally overshadows Leoni in every single aspect. But he just lacks that integral element of human comedy here, that made him so famous in the first place. It's unfortunate, and makes me wonder if the old Carrey will ever return, or if we'll have to contend with semi-funny Carrey for the rest of his career. Leoni is much better, and feels more in tune with what she's doing.

Even more unfortunate is the wasted supporting cast does very little. Alec Baldwin as the sleazy CEO Jack McCallister is sparingly unfunny, as is Richard Jenkins as the right hand man Frank Bascombe, who spends most of the movie drunk and not doing anything (besides setting up for the finale). The rest of the cast has little to no screen time, or are simply silly supporting characters that just feel like excess waste in the entire scheme of things.

For all of it's faults, the film is a worth while watch. As said, I did laugh at some of it. A bit of work on the screenplay would have benefited everyone here. Just do not go in expecting a comedy classic with Jim Carrey. If so, you will be sadly disappointed.

6.5/10.

Dick and Jane is a comedy I didn't expect to do very well. I wasn't sold by the trailers, and another remake is something the world can live happily without. Dick and Jane is an underrated hit though, and Carrey and Leoni are remarkably not as annoying as they sometimes can be. Carrey is, thankfully, as hyperbolic as the character of Dick will let him be and Jane isn't as complicated a role for Leoni to fall on. The movie excellently thanks corporations for its inspiration in the final credits.

Dick has a happy, healthy upper-middle class family. A promotion to the upper echelon believes him to convince his wife Jane to quit her job and get that hot tub they always wanted. A sudden change in corporate direction however, changes their future as they must resort to drastic measures when the bills aren't getting paid.

I didn't find myself laughing as much as I wanted to for a movie. In a year dominated by comedy-remake stinkers like the Honeymooners and Bewitched, Dick and Jane is one of the better movies of the year to watch. If you want a good movie to watch and understand a little bit of corporate history, I recommend Dick and Jane for you.

This is the story of Dick, an ambitious marketing executive which is promoted to the top just on the day his corporation implodes due to some embezzlement scheme. The first 15 minutes (Dick's ascent) are really very, very funny - that's Jim Carrey at his best.

The movie's best part is when you see Dick and his wife falling all the way to level where survival is really a struggle - this is actually very moving. Their ensuing blotched criminal career is on the other hand not so funny as you might expect -- you have the feeling that this is a very good serious movie trying to be funny just to meet the public's expectations.