Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Jim Carrey (left) and Tea Leoni in 'Fun With Dick and Jane'. - CONTRIBUTED
FUN WITH Dick and Jane , starring Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni, is a funny romp that proves quite relevant to today's work climate. It is a sometimes hilarious bit of silliness and should be taken as just that.
The movie is an update of the 1977 flick starring George Segal and Jane Fonda, based on the Gerald Gaiser novel. Judd Apatow and Nicholas Stoller create the screenplay for this version, which is directed by Dean Parisot who has done mainly television work, directing episodes of Monk and ER.
RELEVANT TO TODAY
Though it's a remake, Fun with Dick and Jane is relevant to today, playing tag with events in the not-so-distant past, almost providing a spoof of what has taken place in the wakes of the likes of Enron's crash. It mocks corporate greed and the callousness of the capitalistic system, which allows those at the very top to get out without a scratch to show the close shave while those lower down are often left with barely the skin on their backs.
Dick Harper (Carrey) and Jane Harper (Leoni) were once the normal, upwardly mobile American ideal. Dick was on his way up the corporate ladder until the ladder and the building it was in all came crashing down. There are possibly quite a few former VPs who may sit through the movie and find it not so funny at all.
Most of the movie is spent watching the Harpers run about trying odd jobs or committing capers, even though it is really quite questionably why they were not caught, as they are bad (as in incompetent) criminals. They do what criminals have tried to do since time immemorial, keep themselves in the lifestyle to which they have been or would like to become accustomed.
Of course, these escapades are exactly what make Fun With Dick and Jane a laugh-out-loud good time. Carrey gives the kind of performance reminiscent of Liar Liar. It makes good use of his skills as a character actor, though it doesn't take him over to the exaggerations of his early fame with the likes of Ace Ventura Pet Detective, or Dumb and Dumber. Fun With Dick and Jane provides that balance between his more serious roles in films such as Man on the Moon and those earlier flicks.
While it is by no means Carrey's best work, it is also far from his worst. Fun with Dick and Jane is enjoyably funny. It's not rocket science, but it makes for good comedy.
