Fun with Dick and Jane

WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review. "Fun With Dick and Jane" is a mixed bag of a crime comedy that is best described as “forgettable”. Dick Harper (Jim Carrey) is delighted when he is promoted to Vice President of Globodyne where he works, until he realizes it’s so the corrupt CEO can blame him for the company’s upcoming financial ruin. With his wife Jane (Téa Leoni) happily announcing to Dick and their son that she just quit her job to spend more time at home, the parents decide to go on a crime spree to make ends meet.

Jim Carrey has a multitude of comedic moments, some of which work (such as the costumed and cross-dressing segments) while others feel like they are just imitating some of his other more successful films (a scene where he sings "I Believe I can Fly" all alone in the elevator is standard fare for the man) I think what this movie is really missing is an identity. It's hard to put your finger on what the movie is trying to say. Are we supposed to conclude that money and big jobs are robbing us of true passion, as can be concluded from an early scene where Dick and Jane have to make an appointment with each other to have sex? Is it about letting go of material possessions and high-paying jobs to come together as a family? If that's the case, why does the story focus on how unhappy the two of them are trying to get regular jobs? Is it just supposed to be a light comedy that’s not supposed to enlighten us in any way, even though personal economic crises are getting seemingly more and more prevalent? Are we even supposed to cheer for these guys as they spread their misery around to innocent people? You won’t know, but as compensation you do get a running gag about Dick and Jane's son seeing his Hispanic nanny so much more than his parents that he speaks fluent Spanish...

The movie is filled with forced comedy that doesn't work. Dick gets confused for an illegal Mexican immigrant because he has conveniently lost his wallet, has been punched in the face so hard he can barely talk and is his clothes have been dirtied up. In every other scene he’s an Internet sensation thanks to embarrassing news footage. Jane has to pretend to be an expert in a form of exercise she has never heard of which would be awkward enough but uh oh! She bumps into a friend that is taking the class! How will she manage to stop the embarrassment from happening? That’s forced stuff that I doubt you will find very amusing.

There are some good laughs to be found when a plot to steal money from the film’s villain (Alec Baldwin) is introduced in the last third of the film (particularly when Carrey, Téa Leoni and Richard Jenkins are interacting with each other) but you have to sit through a whole lot of flat comedy. Even then, the ending is ridiculous and doesn't satisfy or seem to mean anything."Fun With Dick and Jane" isn't so much "Fun" as it is "Ok". (On Dvd, April 2013)