DVD REVIEW: FUN WITH DICK & JANE

DVD REVIEW: FUN WITH DICK & JANE
Shock Entertainment, October 2018
Written by David Giler, Jerry Belson, Mordecai Richler, Gerald Gaiser
Directed by Ted Kotcheff
Starring George Segal, Jane Fonda, Ed McMahon
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
7/10

You may be surprised to know that this 1977 comedy isn’t the bedroom farce it looks like at first glance.

Dick and Jane Harper (the exemplary George Segal and Jane Fonda) are an affluent though over-extended couple who find themselves in deep water when Dick is fired from his Aerospace Executive job.

A funny, though scathing, trawl through the broken U.S. welfare system of the ‘70s ensues, with Dick trying to do the right thing while coming perilously close to losing the family home, and even an ill-advised attempt to rob a drug store fail.

It soon becomes apparent that there’s only one way for the Harper’s to stay afloat – to go into the armed robbery business together, but even then the only way out of their financial problems leads them full circle back to Dick’s old boss and his corporate slush fund.

As with many films of the period, there are some politically incorrect moments, not to mention some horrendously dated fashion, but Fun With Dick & Jane is a fun romp and considerably better than the 2005 Jim Carrey & Tea Leoni remake.

Category: Movie & Theatre Reviews