Fun With Dick and Jane Review
by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)December 26th, 2005
Quite a Bit of "Fun with Dick and Jane" by Homer Yen
(c) 2005
Surprise surprise! The undermarketed "Fun with Dick and Jane" is like that extra present under the Christmas tree that you don't expect. After you've opened up all of the bigger presents (and in this season, it would be films like King Kong or Memoirs of a Geisha or Brokeback Mountain), you may notice a smaller box that at first you didn't see. And, once you take a look inside, you'll grin with delight.
And who wouldn't grin when Jim Carrey has a chance to exude his rubbery and animated charm? He's cast as titular Dick, who is an up-and-coming executive at a gigantic mega-firm named Globodyne. The company has an Enron-like look and his company is about to experience an Enron-like demise. No sooner than his promotion to VP of Communications is the company being investigated for flagrant violations. His dreams are tumbling down. His interest-only mortgage has turned into a nightmare of debt because his company's bankruptcy has deflated local home values. His investments, which were primarily put into Globodyne stock, are now worth pennies on the dollar. And, his loving wife, Jane (Tea Leoni), finds herself at the wrong place/wrong time trying to be a stay-at-home mom.
Dick and Jane resort to desperate measures to keep their lifestyle alive. They start with a measured approach of gradually selling off furniture and eating more modest meals. But then it starts getting amusingly silly as they start paying with appliances instead of cash or find innovative ways to save on their water bill. And then it hits full stride as, among other money-generating ideas, Jane enters an experimental-clinic-for-cash and Dick becomes an aggressive greeter at a Sam's Club type store.
Their moral decline is more of a breezy descent rather than an introspective failing. At first, Dick becomes good at stealing Slurpees. And as with any good partnership, Jane will soon follow step. And now their robbing coffee shops and even are developing the skills to rob banks. Their renewed lifestyle becomes reminiscent of that commercial where a 40'ish suburban dad is boasting about his new car and his manicured lawn and his golfing membership only to admit with doe-eyed tolerance that he's in debt up to his eyeballs. It's the same for Dick and Jane, except they're up to their eyeballs in stolen loot. And as their ambition increases, so too does the complexity of their plans. And so too does the absurdity of the fun.
At its heart, the film is an entertaining glimpse of how the stress of making money to sustain a comfortable life in suburbia can drive an otherwise rationale person to do irrational things. And, it's at least cognizant and witty enough to borrow from the atmospheric angst of those Enron days. It's not about reflections of their criminal ways, so the title isn't "Reflections of a Desperate Dick and Jane." It's not about being a satire of the political/corporate process, so the title isn't "Corporate Satire with Dick and Jane." It's not about a family trying to maintain an appearance of affluence, so the title isn't "Keeping up with Dick and Jane." Sure, there are elements of all of those. But please remind yourself that the key word in this title is "Fun". It's fun with Dick and Jane. That's all it wants to be. And that's what it is.
Grade: B
S: 1 out of 3
L: 1 out of 3
V: 1 out of 3
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