How to Beat the High Cost of Living

Jane Curtin is paranoid, Susan St. James is harried, and Jessica Lange is beautiful and married to dork Richard Benjamin. This light-hearted yup flick is fairly ridiculous, but the charms of these wonderful actresses makes it worthwhile. I give it a 6 out of 10 with the best performance by Jane Curtin.

It's nice to see Jessica Lange in an early role when her youth and attractiveness hide the fact that she will become one of our best actresses while Ms. Curtin and Ms. St. James (who I also love since THE NAME OF THE GAME on TV) had careers that faltered (beside the TV show they did together - Kate and Allie). The men in this movie are mostly idiots, but this plays like a decent sit-com; fairly lame, but harmless fun.

This was the film that brought together Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin, who went on to have several successful seasons as "Kate and Allie". Jessica Lange is charming in an early comedy role. Key to the plot is a shopping center built on a river - at the time only found in Eugene, Oregon. If you like the stars, you will enjoy the performances, and the light-hearted story. While Susan Saint James was filming in Eugene, she did public service promos for the local Special Olympics organization. Another anecdote - the shopping center had a "Money Ball" which threw real bills all over the mall - after the shot, when the money was collected, they wound up with more than they started with. "Only in Eugene, Oregon!" chortled the director

For some reason, a slew of movies in 1980 mark a turning point in my developmental teen years: 9 to 5, A Coal Miner's Daughter, Private Benjamin, et.al. HTBTHCOL is yet another...one that took a long time to eventually come out on DVD.

It's even funnier than I'd remembered. While the story is good and the acting is ok, it's the cultural references circa 1980 that totally make the movie work for me (I'm 36 yrs old in '04). Jane Curtain's '80 Cutlass sucking gas, her oh-so-'70s contemporary house--complete with green bedspread and Buick-sized answering machine, the endless references to inflation, the grocery store cashier actually saying the name of each item before ringing it up by hand ("toy gun, $1.95..."), etc.

Jane Curtain actually does give the best performance, not only for her manic attempts to find cash, but for her impromptu striptease ("are you ready to see 1985, or should we skip right to 1990?"). The chemistry between Jane and Jessica Lange's character is quite good. Poor Susan Saint James...her character is annoying, whiny, and basically she serves as the Curly of this trio. (Yeah, I'd bring my kids to rob a store too...)

In all, this is a cute, silly time capsule to the dark days of inflation, 17% mortgage interest rates, slanted wood houses with lots of poorly utilized space, ferns, etc. One funny note: Jane Curtain's character makes numerous references to prostitution (to the gas station attendant, to the gals at the restaurant, and to Jack--the copy played by Dabney Coleman).

This 1980 comedy is slight but entertaining, with a terrific cast headed up by former "Saturday Night Live" star Jane Curtin. Fittingly, Curtin would later become half of the 1980s classic sitcom duo "Kate and Allie", sharing TV laughs with co-star Susan Saint James. Here, the two women share the bill with a pre-"Tootsie" Jessica Lange, who was then underrated as an actress and better known for bombing in Dino De Laurentis' version of "King Kong".

Curtin plays Elaine, a sophisticated missus whose husband has run out, leaving her with a tasteful hillside home, and a pile of bills she can barely pay off. Meanwhile, divorcée Jane (Saint James) struggles to raise two kids, and can't afford to marry her fiancé, hardware store owner Robert (Fred Willard) – forcing them to spend intimate moments in the back of a car. Louise (Lange) is also battling differences with husband Albert (Richard Benjamin), a dentist who underestimates his wife's desire to have an income of her own – and who leads the IRS to classify his wife's antique store as a "hobby".

Of course, the ladies decide the easiest problem-solver is to steal a ball full of floating dollars at the local shopping mall.

It's a slight premise, but the performances are enjoyable, not only from the leads, but also from supporting characters. While our sympathy is with the screwball ladies, it's also fun watching Benjamin squirm as a selfish oaf, in a scene with dental hygienist (and future B-queen) Sybil Danning. Also entertaining are Dabney Coleman as a cop romancing Elaine, and Eddie Albert as Max, a now-daffy ex-Marine and father to Jane. One of the best scenes involves Curtin and former SNL costar Garrett Morris, playing a utility representative.

The pretty Oregon town of Eugene, home to the University of Oregon, also lends its character to the scenes, with on-location shoots adding to its realism. Not only that – counter-cultural Eugene *is* the sort of town where well-meaning citizens would put on a play at the local shopping mall. It's a fun trip back in time for anyone who even slightly remembers the inflationary 1970s and early 1980s.

This movie is swimming in 1970's economy humor, there's never enough money for everything. Bills can't get paid, and a radio announcer says with relief in his voice that the cost of living went up ONLY 2%.

The humor may date it for some and make it fly over people's heads that were too young to remember the economic malaise of the late 70's (I barely remember it, my being a kid back then).

But if you get past that, what you have here is a smart and entertaining caper film where the people pulling the caper are all female. June Curtain, Jessica Lange and Susan Saint James make up the team that conspires to make a heist.

Dabney Coleman proves he can actually play a sweet guy with his turn as a Police man which falls for Jane Curtain's character. Richard Benjimin has some great one-liners playing Jessica Lange's animal doctor husband. Garrett Morris has a great cameo.

I saw this at the movies when it first came out and found it to be very funny and enjoyable. Years later I sought it out and found that it has been out of print on video for a number of years. Finally, I found a copy to rent. You should try to find a copy too. It's a fun film