The title of this so-called comedy is a misnomer, because “Fun with Dick and Jane” is anything but. Indeed there are far more suitable words to describe what it’s like spending 90 minutes in a movie theater watching this yuppie couple degenerate into common criminals: “Arduous,” “unpleasant” and “exhausting,” to name a few. You can throw in “disappointing” as well, especially if you happen to be a fan of the usually reliable funnyman Jim Carrey and/or screenwriter Judd Apatow, most recently of the hilarious “40 Year-old Virgin.” Both miss the mark badly in this ill-advised remake, and everyone else involved follows their lead. In the weeks leading up to the film’s release, the Hollywood grapevine had this project pegged as troubled by squabbles between Carrey (who doubles as producer), his costar Tea Leoni, Sony execs and director Parisot. Reportedly, the film was being re-edited as recently as three weeks ago. The unflattering innuendo apparently is true, because “Dick and Jane” suffers mightily from post-production stress syndrome.
Dick Harper (Carrey) becomes the fall guy when his employer, a media conglomerate headed by a standard issue corporate villain (Alec Baldwin), collapses in Enron-like fashion. Having been publicly disgraced, Dick is virtually unemployable — save for a woefully unfunny segment that finds him working as a greeter at a discount shopping center. Desperate, he and his materialistic wife Jane (Leoni, a blank canvas that receives nary a brush-stroke throughout) turn to crime. It’s petty stuff at first, but eventually they graduate to high-stakes heists culminating in a revenge sting so lame-brained, the guys from “Dumb & Dumber” might well have dreamed it up. In case you forgot, Carrey played Lloyd Christmas in the Farrelly Brothers’ 1994 laugh-fest.
This Christmas, however, there ain’t nothing funny about Jim. (RATED PG-13. RUNNING TIME: 90 MINUTES)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 23, 2005. Read the original PDF.