In ricchezza e in povertà

I missed this movie for about 22 years. It's not great --- don't get me wrong. But the humor, acting, timing, plot, and underlying message are all well-done. It's a very watchable movie, with some laughs, and a solid story-line. Nice pairing of Kirstie and Allen.

This is a gentle and amusing comedy. It is the story of a (very) rich couple on the point of divorce forced to flee from the IRS. They end up in Amish country and ‘pretend' to be from another Amish community. The main comedy is from how they try to adapt to the new life, whilst keeping up the pretence of being Amish, and is quite remarkable in portraying the Amish way of life sympathetically. Even the Amish accent is a little more accurate than is normal in a comedy (having lived there myself). It is understandable why it was not a great hit in the Cinema, as it has no big blockbuster special effects, but for the TV it is just what is required when a good laugh is required – and the language is suitable for all (except for possibly an Amish viewer).

granted this is not high brow sophisticated comedy, but it was actually a really fun movie! Kirstie Alley was not her usual annoying self, and it was enjoyable to watch her character change due to the Amish influence. Tim Allen was more relaxed and less of a ham, so his character was fun to watch. the Newman mailman guy from the Seinfeld show always cracks me up. the Amish child was cute too.

the Amish were not disrespected, and this movie made me want to learn more about the Amish. just a quick and simple Google search for Amish brought up several good sites. perhaps this is the real success of this movie - that viewers hear the message of simplicity and virtue in living one's life, then take the next step to learn more about the Amish culture and beliefs, and finally take to heart these life lessons we learned as a child.

This movie may not be Academy Award material, but I found it very entertaining. The performances by Kirstie Alley and Tim Allen are hilarious. There's also a "moral to the story." I've seen "For Richer or Poorer" several times and highly recommend it.

Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley made one of the most mismatched couples I have ever seen, but that was the beauty of this movie, and the key to why it was so funny. They played off of each other very well. I also liked the fact that it didn't bash religion the way a lot of movies do nowadays, and that it won out at the end of the day.

My only complaint about this movie was the scene where they spent the night sleeping in a cow pasture. Kirstie Alley was either very distracted or had to have her nose cut off not to notice until early the next morning that she was sleeping in cow manure. Whoever wrote that script obviously didn't spend much time in the country. To him (or her), I say if you're standing or sleeping in the middle of cow manure, you would notice it right away. Kirstie Alley is a Kansas girl. I'm surprised she didn't take the writers to task over this.

Otherwise, this was a pretty upbeat, pretty funny movie. (I guess Big John was saying in horsease "I don't think so, Tim."). Seven out of ten for this one.