Jim Carrey Carries the Load in Fun with Dick and Jane

Rated PG-13 for brief language, some sexual humor and occasional humorous drug references.

New in the theatres: FUN WITH DICK AND JANE by director Dean Parisot. He is the same guy that directed HOME FRIES, but don’t hold that against him. Here he has helped Jim Carrey finally find that mix of humor and pathos that he’s been searching for since THE CABLE GUY, and oddly enough, one of the writers of THE CABLE GUY, Judd Apatow, co-wrote FUN WITH DICK AND JANE.

Dick (Jim Carrey) and Jane (Téa Leoni) comfortable life in the bosom of corporate American is turned upside down when Dick’s boss (Alec Baldwin) takes the massive company down with him in a scandal that sends all the employees to the poor house. Of course, Dick can’t find a suitable job through no fault of his own, and turns to a life of crime, with wife in tow, to make ends meet.

This is a remake of the 1977 movie staring George Segal and Jane Fonda, but where in the late 70’s the social message was thinly veiled under the comic scenario, here Parisot waits until the ending to beat you over the head with his message. Here’s a shocker: corporate greed is bad. It’s a nice touch however that they give special thanks to the officers of Enron, WorldCom and the rest of their ilk of pension sucking scum in the end credits.

Of course, Carrey is the engine that drives this comedy and he pulls it off nicely, developing some great chemistry with Leoni along the way and Baldwin has started a new career playing that chunky corporate weasel you love to hate, but maybe now that this is out of his system maybe Carrey will stop trying to be Tom Hanks and start making full on slap stick movies again.

A lot of the jokes and references, like The Blues Brothers and Sony and Cher, might sail over the kids heads and the movie is rated PG-13 for brief language, some sexual humor and occasional humorous drug references, but the children (some as young as six or seven) in the theatre when I saw it, were laughing right along with the adults. So, while this isn’t a family friendly film, you can bring your kids along and they won’t get bored.