Movie Review--Fun with Dick and Jane

This movie was more political than I expected. I went to see it just knowing that it was a comedy about a couple that had fallen on hard times and turned to a life a crime. That's accurate, but it's more than that. Dick (Jim Carrey) worked for a company called Globodyne. He had just been promoted to vice president and convinced his wife to quit her job when the company dramatically collapsed. The parallels to Enron were pretty clear. As with Enron, the employees' pension plans consisted of company stocks, so Dick and Jane (Tea Leoni) lost everything. Neither one could find another job. Jane took part in a cosmetic study to earn a whopping $14 and has a really bad reaction. Dick got a job at Kostmart, where he lasted about a day. In the employees' training room, there was a huge anti-union sign. As he was leaving after being fired, Dick yelled something about them not paying enough to support a family anyway. The parallels to Wal-Mart were pretty clear. Dick then tries to get work in jobs that mostly fall to illegal aliens and gets deported. His wife has to help sneak him back over the border.

Dick and Jane sell everything they can, but they don't sell their house. With the collapse of Globodyne, property values had fallen, and they would have actually ended up owing money if they sold. Nearing foreclosure, they turn to a life of crime out of desperation.

Anyway, all of this doesn't really sound like much of a comedy, but it's actually pretty funny. There is the physical comedy, of course. Dick and Jane also get themselves into some highly amusing situations, like trying to rob a bank and running into other former Globodyne employees trying to do the same thing. I really enjoyed this movie, but I would imagine politically conservative individuals would not.