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Review Date: January 02, 2006
Director: Dean Parisot
Writer: Judd Apatow, Nicholas Stoller
Producers: Brian Grazer, Jim Carrey
Actors:
Jim Carrey as Dick
Tea Leoni as Jane
Alec Baldwin as Jack
Genre: Comedy |
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A married man gets booted from his job, right as his wife quits hers, and months later, the duo are fighting heavy debt, depression and thousands of others looking for work in the same town. As a solution, the twosome decide that robbing stuff from others might be the way to go for now, so they buy some Halloween costumes, a fake gun and hit the streets running. What’s supposed to ensue is a bunch of “fun”, but we only get a little bit of it…and Alec Baldwin! |
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If you’re going to title your film FUN WITH… anyone, you better make sure that you pour on the fun and then some, as that’s pretty much what anybody going into the picture will be looking for—especially if the name Jim Carrey is attached to it on top of that. I got a little bit of fun out of this movie, but not as much as I was hoping, especially when you consider its Christmas release, the addition of folks like Tea Leoni, Alec Baldwin and Richard Jenkins to the cast, and the screenwriting efforts of the great Judd Apatow. With all that pedigree tied into this picture, along with the director of the underrated GALAXY QUEST, I expected to be hunkered over my seat every few minutes, but instead, I smiled a little here and there, laughed once or twice, but mostly, just sat with a basic level of amusement pasted onto my fat face. Carrey, who’ll generally deliver some huge laughs during several points of his movies, fared only “okay” here, with only some of his manic over-the-top stuff included in this movie. Mostly, the film played like a huge set-up for the series of robbery schemes to which the couple ultimately surrendered, some of which were funny, but most of which were just “okay”. The film also concludes around a much bigger scheme which wasn’t all that interesting (and a little too serious for this type of movie) and led to many improbable situations (they basically went a little too over-the-top with that stuff).
Furthermore, I generally appreciate Leoni as an actress and comedienne, but didn’t think she had enough to do here, other than stand by Carrey’s side and act like the doting wife, most of the time. Her one sequence with the Botox experiment was pretty hilarious though. I also really enjoyed some of the stuff to which the family had to resort when they went broke like lathering themselves up with soap on the street and then running in front of the neighbors’ water sprinklers for a shower. The fact that their child was more proficient in Spanish due to his closeness to their nanny was also pretty funny. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the small, yet significant, contributions made by both Baldwin and Jenkins, who helped jack the film up a little. In the end though, the laughs and “fun” were simply not enough, and neither was the film’s runtime (only 85 minutes or so), leading me to believe that lots of editing took place and there might’ve been more on the cutting room floor. The film’s simplistic overview of the corporate scams still plaguing the U.S. today also took a bunch of liberties, but at least attempted something inventive in terms of the film’s plotline. Most comedies will resort to sitcom stories, so kudos to the filmmakers for – at the very least – attempting to jazz things up. That said…this is a rental at best.
(c) 2010 Berge Garabedian
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Viewing
1-4 of 4 User Comments
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 bringtherain
on Dec 4 2007, 12:12:34 PM writes:
I LIKED IT
Rating: 8/10
This movie came as a complete suprise to me. I saw it pretty randomly and didn't know much about it, but it turned out to be a very pleasureful expirience. I think this is one of Carry's best comedy's, and I have not seen Tea Leoni in anything better. I think they did a wonderful job and I thought they were an excellent pair onscreen. Alec Baldwin also did a great job as the Exec of Globodyne, also an unexpected result.
Judd Apatow wrote some of this and I must say, I really think he did a great job again. The plot in this film was much different from the average comedy I felt. I really liked the story and the kind of uniqueness it brought. The dialogue is great, and extremely amusing. I thought that this movie was so funny. I laughed throughout, and multiple times my sides hurt because I couldn't stop. It was great.
The VFX were great, not really noticable as such, blending rather than taking away from the story. The direction of the film was good, another decent comedy delivered by Dean Parisot (I like Galaxy Quest too).
I ended up seeing this twice in theaters, and then I bought it and have watched it 6 more times or so. Its one of my favorite comedies and I find it entertaining each time, and I plan to continually pick it up every now and again for fun with dick and jane.
Acting: 8/10
Plot: 8/10
Dialogue: 8/10
Humor: 9/10
Visual Effects/CG: 8/10
Direction: 7/10
Replay Value: 9/10
Final Rating (Avg.): 8.1 or 8 (B+)
Recommend?: I definitly think that it is a great comedy, and if you like Jim Carry. |
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bobbishaw
on Mar 3 2006, 10:33:46 AM writes:
BIG TROUBLE
Rating: 9/10
I WANT TO TURN ON A GOOD ENJOYABLE FAMILY FARE MOVIE WITH TIM ALLEN AND RENE RUSSO MADE IN 2001 CALLED BIG TROUBLE. I WORK PART-TIME AT A VIDEO STORE AND HAD IT PLAYING LAST NIGHT AND EVERYONE (CUSTOMERS) WHO CAUGHT A GLIMPSE OF IT ASKED WHAT IT WAS. I HAD ORIGINALLY SEEN THE PREVIEWS IN 2001 AND BECAUSE OF THE 9/11 INCIDENT - THE MOVIE GOT SHELVED AND NEVER TOOK OFF. TIM ALLEN AND ALL THE CAST MEMBERS WERE EXCELLENT - I THINK WE SHOULD PUSH IT ON TO MORE CUSTOMERS AS EXCELLENT, HILARIOUS FAMILY-FARE MOVIE. PURE ENTERTAINMENT. |
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 Jedi
on Jan 11 2006, 3:06:39 PM writes:
Rating: 9/10
I'm a huge fan of Jim Carrey so my opinion is admittedly biased. This isn't his best effort but it still beats out lots of mega-hits like Weeding Crasher that was supposed to be funny. Carrey and Leoni were superb together. Plenty of laughs and a nice story to boot. Mindless, yet we get some really, really GREAT fun. |
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 tbone
on Jan 11 2006, 1:39:18 AM writes:
Rating: 3/10
This movie provided a couple of laughs and nothing else. Carrey and Leoni were wasted in what could have been a decent movie. Baldwin and Carrey are motivated by the same motives, so the movies attempt to ridicule corporate giants doesn't work. Also what was with their stupid child speaking Spanish all the time and being just a plain annoyance. I also forgot the painful ending, when somehow everyone learns good, and not one person has to live with consequences for their actions. |
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