Une baraque à tout casser

I know, the critics ripped at "The Money Pit" when it got released. They apparently didn't realize that it wasn't pretending to be a masterpiece; it was a big excuse to be funny, and they succeed. Some of the gags her seem to forecast the equally funny "Mousehunt". Personally, I think that Tom Hanks needs to act in some more comedies, and Shelley Long needs to get more roles in movies. My favorite scene? Well, I get the giggles whenever I think of the whole chain reaction. Just the kinds of things about which anyone should worry when moving into a new house (although my family didn't have such experiences when we moved into our house).

All in all, it shows that Richard Benjamin is as great a director as he is an actor. My generation ought to give him the recognition that my parents' generation gave him. Also starring Alexander Godunov (one of the Amish guys in "Witness"), Maureen Stapleton, Joe Mantegna and Josh Mostel.

It continually amazes me that Tom hanks will go down as one of the best dramatic actors of our generation and little will be spoken of how good a physical comedian he was before "Philadelphia" changed his career. Hanks made a string of movies in the 80s relying on his physical comedy ability, most notable "Big", "the burbs", "dragnet", "turner & hooch" etc. But I think that with the POSSIBLE exception of "Big" - "The Money Pit" is his best. Some of the scenes involving Hanks in this movie made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe. This movie is intended to be a farce and it succeeds totally. The rest of the cast is not very strong - I have never, and I assume never will be, a Shelley Long fan - she doesn't do anything but provide a sounding board for Hanks anyway. But then again, she really doesn't need to.

This movie is definitely worth taking a look at if you haven't seen it - the first time you watch it, it is genuinely hilarious. I just watched it again after about three years without seeing it and found it to still hold up. The scene when the chimney falls apart is my favorite. I wish hanks would do another comedy, but he's all serious now. oh well.

I loved this movie. Granted, I was a teen when I first saw it, but even so, I laughed often and that is my standard of judgment. Shelley Long is as good as she was in Cheers (which is gooood). Tom Hanks shows off the early "Bosom Buddies" hopes of physical comedy genius here in a way that he never did again. The bee-attack scene to the flight of the Bumblebee violin solo is fabulous. the whole "We're Sitting on a Dream" sequence with the stairs and doorbell and raccoon and the bathtub is hilarious but PEOPLE. Come on. The entire collapsing stairs bit is the best, capped off by Hanks sweet little blown kiss at the end ... slayed me. My brother and I still reference it whenever everything is more crap than bearable, and we always will. I think this is an overlooked gem and will always have it in my video catalogue. Finally, a quote: Paint. Don't tickle. Alexander Gudonow will be missed.

Tom Hanks and Shelley Long star in this hilarious film about a couple who buy a million dollar home for $200,000 - only to find out it's going to cost close to a million to repair it! Wood rot, raccoons in the dumbwaiter, a bad roof, bad plumbing, bad electricity - you name it, this house has it. Hard to choose the funniest scene - the staircase collapse or Hanks getting dumped in cement.

The entire cast is excellent, from Maureen Stapleton, the former homeowner whose boyfriend is being deported, Hanks' clients (he's an entertainment attorney), the many workers who populate the house, or Douglass Watson, Hanks' embezzler father who now lives in Rio.

It would also be hard to choose the funniest line, but for anyone who has owned a home, probably the Shirks Brothers line when their team comes to repair the house - "Your name came up in a drawing - we work today!"

The Money Pit is directed by Richard Benjamin and written by David Giler. It stars Tom Hanks, Shelley Long, Alexander Godunov and Maureen Stapleton. Music is by Michael Colombier and cinematography by Gordon Willis. Plot finds Hanks and Long as a young couple who buy what they think is their dream house, only to find the house falling apart around them.

Mozart is dead, his troubles are over.

He went on to be a big mover in the acting world did Tom Hanks, so much so it's always a little weird revisiting his comedy output in the 1980s because he's a vastly different actor now. Yet for many of us, that decade holds many treasures, where nostalgic fever takes a hold and a warm glow does come with watching the young Hanks bound about with comedic glee. The Money Pit doesn't have the cult worship of Splash or the internet respect of Big, yet it's a wonderfully funny picture that finds Hanks on optimum energised form. The plot might be thin and Long kind of gets pushed to one side, but this has much to enjoy with a bottle of vino and snacks. That is, of course, if you don't mind laughing at the misfortune of new home owners?! I am sinking fast into the money pit.

A number of sequences are pure farce, but in the good way, stairs collapse, as does the chimney, doors, floors and a leaking roof bring the mirth, as does a laugh out loud bath moment. It sounds a little chaotic, and it is at times, but the screenplay allows Hanks & Long, and the wonderful Godunov, time to breath life into the characters. There's a lovely romance at the core of the story, one that inevitably will be tested by the chaos of the house renovations and Godunov's third party ex. They are a very likable couple and easy to root for. Helps that Hanks is full of effervescent boyishness and Long is so homely and pretty, the latter of which I don't think has ever looked better than during a red dress sequence here.

If the foundation is OK? Then everything else can be fixed.

It doesn't have any surprises in store, it goes exactly where you expect it too, which naturally renders the final third as being all about the sentiment and the message. With the comedy gone, picture struggles a touch to put the final coat of paint on the project. But it's nicely underplayed by the actors and really this is about love triumphant against adversity. With the laughs that came previously more than making this a blues lifter for the nostalgic amongst us. 7.5/10