DVD available at Amazon.com
Director:
Dean Parisot
Cast:
Jim Carrey……….Dick Harper
Tea Leoni……….Jane Harper
Alec Baldwin……….Jack McCallister
Richard Jenkins………Frank Bascom
Angie Harmon……….Veronica Cleeman
John Michael Higgins………Garth
Richard Burgi……….Joe Cleeman
Jeff Garlin……….Peter Scott
Columbia Pictures presents Fun with Dick and Jane. Written by Judd Apatow, Nicholas Stoller and Peter Tolan. Running time: 90 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for brief language, some sexual humor and occasional humorous drug references) Available on DVD: April 11, 2006.
The movie:
There’s nothing like sticking it to the man. Telling your superior to take this job and shove it. It’s such a great feeling. Over the last couple of years, though, many 9-to-5ers know what it’s like to be screwed by their white-collared overseers. Enron, WorldCom, Tyco. Multi-billion dollar corporations declaring bankruptcy, employees’ pensions and stock options lost forever. Adding to that problem we have the high cost of gas, 11 million illegal immigrants calling America home, and a nation consisting of elephants, donkeys, and independent free thinkers.
Fun with Dick and Jane, an update to the 1977 comedy starring Jane Fonda and George Segal, recycles the narrative, but plays upon the notion of corrupt business practices and dealing with unemployment. The movie stars Jim Carrey as Dick Harper, a 15-year employee of Globodyne. Then the stars align and he’s promoted to VP of communications. It’s only a ruse, as he is ordered to act as the voice of the corporation on a live cable business program. Misinformed by his superiors, Dick is agape with some of the questions being raised by the host. All he can do is sit there and be lambasted by Ralph Nader as Globodyne’s stock falls to just pennies a share.
Tea Leoni (Spanglish) plays his wife, Jane, a travel agent who has quit her job because of Dick’s big promotion. She was excited. Finally Jane could be a stay-at-home mom taking care of their son Billy. The glee is short-lived, however, as Dick rolled the dice of fate and lost. Gone is the splendid affluence they were expected to have and in its place is a home without a yard. The Harpers lose their retirement savings, the furniture, electricity, AC and heating and, Heaven forbid, their flat-panel hi-def television set. Billy is not amused one bit.
Starting over is never an easy thing to do. For Dick it is extremely difficult considering the Globodyne brouhaha; it is months before an employer will even look at his resumes. Going to interviews is just another can of worms to be opened. Companies are either not looking for vice presidents at the moment or, if an interview can be scheduled, they wait to see if Dick will actually show up. Dick does and is lambasted by those who remember his meltdown on live television.
With nobody to lend a helping hand Dick and Jane must resort to thievery to make ends meet. Not wanting to jump in feet first, the couple practices by trying to rob a convenience store and a bank teller. Soon, the jobs become bigger, the challenge more risky.
The viewer is sure to notice the similarity between Globodyne’s success and how Enron’s, one of the largest energy corporations in the United States, profit margins were based on lies. Alec Baldwin does his Ken Lay best playing Jack McCallister, a giant windbag that sounds much like our Nation’s president, who absconds with more than 400 million dollars. Money which consists of stock portfolios and severance packages. But Bush is not the only one being ribbed. There were also Gore/Liberman 2000 campaign posters in the background as Dick and Jane are about to rob a Starbucks joint. Intentional or not, it makes for greater discussion afterwards.
Recycling the narrative thread of the original, there were opportunities for the movie to act as social commentary. In its place is Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni looking out for number one. Making sure little Billy has a TV and toys, they resort to costumes consisting of fake beards and wigs and other accoutrements. Tired slapstick and a script that lacks coherence does not make for a win-win situation.
Instead of the filmmakers deciding now was the time to remake Fun with Dick and Jane, why not make a dark comedy satirizing the entire Enron fiasco and the recent turn of events in America. Sure, there was the documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, which explored the company’s downfall and white-collared greed, but documentaries don’t play well in front of large crowds. The majority goes unseen by the public, unless it is an attempt to vilify a sitting president.
No, as an alternative to Jim Carry doing his usual comedy shtick, imagine a motion picture that begins with Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling lighting cigars with Benjamin Franklins set ablaze and sipping on some Cognac. The two stare at the Houston skyline only to turn around and see a throng of blue shirts heading towards them. They try to make a quick getaway in their SUV’s only to discover they have no gas. Needing assistance they run towards a local restaurant only to find it out of business because there are no more Mexicans. It starts to rain. Now the two are being smacked by blue-collared workers while “The Pina Colada” Song plays in the background; now that’s something I’d pay to see.
Score: 3.5/10
The DVD:
THE VIDEO
(Presented in 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and 1.33:1 Full Screen)
The movie sports a clean transfer with no discernable dirt or grain in the print. You have the option of watching the feature in either Anamorphic widescreen or the pan-and-scan version. Be thankful the menu screen visualizes the differences between the two, letting you know how much picture you lose with full screen. Overall, the transfer is vibrant, the colors nice and bright.
Score: 8/10
THE AUDIO
(English and French Dolby Digital 5.1)
The audio like the video is complaint free. The 5.1 surround sound is benefited by crisp sounding dialogue. Adequately blended with the movie’s song selections and musical score, it comes off sounding clear and relaxed. If you are curious to know what Jim Carrey sounds like in France, a French soundtrack is also included.
Score: 8/10
SPECIAL FEATURES: Scenes that should have made the movie!!
The Fun with Dick and Jane DVD comes with a few extras that will make you laugh out loud. There’s a three-minute gag reel with Jim Carrey acting the fool. The best bits are in the beginning and the end with Carrey in a black ski mask and a microphone that alters his voice.
The audio commentary with co-writers Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and Nicholas Stoller and director Dean Parisot is surprisingly more entertaining than the feature film. Before all three open up Apatow suggests that the listener will be so entertained and informed by this commentary track that he may not even watch the movie. Good idea. Listening to the track I can tell it is not screen specific, thus allowing the three to go off on different tangents. Nice commentary on the state of the affairs: “This movie is like The Manchurian Candidate in that sometime in the future people will be voting Obama for President.” Huh? Yeah, it’s kind of like that.
Despite the smiles I cracked listening to the commentary, it was no match for the deleted scenes. Six in all, I have no idea why they were left out. Especially when you consider the total running time for the flick is 90 minutes (and that’s with credits). Essential viewing is the “video store robbery” and the “toy store robbery.” The latter is fun because where else are you going to see James Whitmore (the prison librarian in The Shawshank Redemption) as a security guard who tussles with Jim Carrey?
Rounding out the disc is outtakes taken from press junkets promoting the movie and previews for numerous theatrical and home video releases, including: The Da Vinci Code, Click, The Benchwarmers, Marie Antoinette, and Rent.
Score: 5/10
| InsidePulse’s Ratings for Fun with Dick and Jane | |
