FUN WITH DICK AND JANE (DVD)

Director: Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest, Home Fries, TV work)
Starring: Jim Carrey, Tea Leoni, Alec Baldwin, Richard Jenkins

No one will ever mistake me as Jim Carrey’s biggest fan. I’ve enjoyed some of his films where he edges more into the dramatic realm - films like The Truman Show or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I’m convinced that I liked those films due to the skilled filmakers rather than due to Mr. Carrey, however. I can say that none of his silly comedies really hit me. I’ve always lumped him and Adam Sandler in the same pile. I’m perfectly fine with watching Ace Ventura or The Waterboy while folding laundry, but only if there isn’t anything else on. Perhaps to better frame this, I feel the same way about films like Necessary Roughness, the original Longest Yard, Stroker Ace or The Secret of my Success. No that’s not true, I like the Michael J Fox movie a lot better actually.

Regardless, back to the film at hand. Fun with Dick and Jane is a moderately enjoyable flick that has some noble goals for a wacky comedy. Jim Carrey plays an up-and-coming VP of an Enron-esque major corporation that is soon monetarily ransacked by it’s nefarious CEO (Alec Baldwin). Carrey loses his job like the thousands of other staff, and soon enough finds himself desperate enough to see what a life of crime might have to offer. He and his wife (Tea Leoni) rob some Starbucks (I can get behind that) and a hippy (Boo!) and eventually come up with an ingenious scheme to get back the millions Baldwin stole from the company’s pensions.

The “ingenious” scheme? It involves them forging Baldwin’s signature. God that’s awful.

Oh well. Anyway, they get the money back for the employees and all is happy in corporate America. So, like I said, there are noble goals here. They lightly lambast corporate greed, which really amounts to individuals’ greed, and try to have some fun in the process. The unfortunate bit here is that the movie just isn’t very fun or funny. Most of the jokes simply fell flat. It’s a nice enough idea to watch some VP’s attempting a life of crime, but the only time I laughed out loud during this film was a sarcastic snicker after a particularly lame joke.

Standouts: There are none. It’s fairly average in most ways, except when it’s slightly below average.
Blowouts: Not too much was entirely awful either, but most of the humor didn’t hit me at all.

Grade: C-