Fun With Dick and Jane film review

certificate_12A

FUN WITH DICK AND JANE

Beleaguered by production problems and a runaway budget, the rumours surrounding Fun With Dick And Jane didn't bode well for its future. Such omens have ultimately proved well founded as this patched together mess, held together by duct tape and a few limp gags, finally limps to the screen.

A remake of the mediocre 1977 comedy starring George Segal and Jane Fonda, Fun With Dick And Jane was presumably dusted off in an effort to spoof the whole Enron fiasco. But any aspirations to be a smart, biting satire on corporate America are abandoned in favour of relying on Jim Carrey's well-worn schtick.

Carrey plays Dick Harper, an ambitious suck-up in Globodyne, an Enron-like corporate giant. Living a life of suburban contentment with his wife Jane (Téa Leoni) and their young boy, Dick is promoted by unctuous boss Jack McCallister (Alec Baldwin) to VP of communications just as the company stock goes into freefall. The once vast empire, built on an illusion of strength, collapses leaving its employees jobless and McCallister to fly off with the millions he'd siphoned off.

With Dick unable to find work, the Harper's once affluent lifestyle quickly alters to the point where even their front lawn is repossessed. "We followed the rules and we got screwed," bemoans Dick. Desperate, he turns to robbery and, after a few bungled efforts, Dick and Jane become a suburban Bonnie and Clyde, adopting a variety of comical disguises as they replenish their empty coffers.

The Fun element of the film's title is rarely in evidence. There are moments during the Harper's crime spree in which Carrey's gift for slapstick is given free reign, but for the most part, time spent in the presence of Dick and Jane is more annoying than enjoyable. Directed by Dean Parisot, who struck the perfect tone with Galaxy Quest and co-written by The 40 Year-Old Virgin's screenwriter Judd Appatow, Fun With Dick And Jane suffers from a lack of direction. There was the potential to make it more in the vein of the Coen brothers' Hudsucker Proxy and darker in its condemnation of corporate greed, but clearly with a vast budget and Carrey on board, there was an obligation to go more mainstream. The outcome is that it falls somewhere between both stools, being neither frivoulous enough for the popcorn crowd or incisive enough to back up the gags with anything more substantial.

Kevin Murphy