The Return Of The Jim Carey Comedy, Sort Of . . . Fun With Dick And Jane

The Good: Decent story, Interesting characters, Moments of humor
The Bad: Radically inconsistent tone, Fairly typical acting, Jim Carey's standard
The Basics: When Dick loses his awesome job and the local economy tanks, Dick and Jane lose everything they have built, snap and begin to retake their lives through robbery.


Back when I was in high school, Jim Carey comedy movies were the big thing. He was racking up box office receipts with such comedic gems as The Mask, Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, and other movies I refused on principle to see. Having to make a snap decision on what movies to get out of the library to review yesterday, I ended up grabbing Fun With Dick And Jane, which features Jim Carey returning with typically "Jim Carey" style antics, which include throwing himself around, making bizarre facial expressions and, in this case, a parody musical number in an elevator. But Fun With Dick And Jane, which turns out to be a remake of a 1977 movie, is not a typical Jim Carey movie, or considering the directions he's headed in now, perhaps "traditional" Jim Carey movie would be better. This is not a traditional Jim Carey movie, it is dark and real and exploring themes many of us commoners live with.

Dick Harper is happily married with his wife Jane, living in suburbia, generally happy with his life and his fabulous job. When he earns a huge promotion, Dick is able to convince his wife to quit her hellish job and the two make big plans. The next day, literally, the company Dick works for collapses completely and within three months, the Harpers are destitute. Furious about losing everything, having played the game like good Americans, Dick sets out to take back his life. With Jane's help, the two begin to rob their way back into the upper class (sorry, but a $650,000 house is NOT middle class!) and when the time is right, they figure out the biggest score that will keep them set for life.

What works about Fun With Dick And Jane, a largely un-fun movie, is that it finally tackles some real problems people face in a way that we face them. Dick and Jane continue to lose and despite all his best efforts, Dick cannot land a job, much less an interview. When people in positions of authority talk about the economy and opportunities in the United States, they often speak as if the nation is tripping over itself to benefit the common citizens, that no matter where one goes in the US, there are opportunities to use the talents one has or has trained for just waiting for someone to apply. Reality is different and in many parts of the country, those tools we use to get ahead - i.e. a college education - can impede getting a job (manufacturing jobs and simple service jobs will often not look at resumes with college education because those people are "overqualified" for their jobs and they assume they will simply leave when something better comes along) and Fun With Dick And Jane is the first movie I've seen to actually show that. Dick's frustration over getting knocked off the truck of migrant workers ("We should report that guy!") is one of the most clever and real exhortations of the problems workers face in the United States.

And Fun With Dick And Jane devastatingly, if subtly, and correctly links the acquisition of material wealth with happiness. Dick and Jane are only romantic with one another when their financial problems are not overwhelming. They barely touch one another during Dick's unemployed phase and that's especially clever of the writers and director Dean Parisot. We tell children - and ourselves - "Money can't buy you love," but anyone who has been unemployed or underemployed and tried to meet a romantic partner or make a romantic connection will tell you in the United States, we judge one another terribly on employment and income rather than personality and ideology.

What makes Fun With Dick And Jane watchable is that after the agonizing destruction of Dick and Jane's lives - which is difficult to watch, especially for those who live with such struggles in reality - the movie becomes the ultimate working class fantasy, taking from those who have to live the way they do. Anyone who is a poor worker will tell you that it's baffling that CEOs in the US can make an unlimited amount of money off the backs of the workers (in some countries, that is capped, where the CEO cannot make more than 24 times the lowest paid employee). In Fun With Dick And Jane, the viewers are treated to watching the execution of the fantasy as Dick and Jane take off banks (federally insured) and the super rich who have humiliated or exploited them (used them to achieve their status). It's refreshing and enjoyable to watch.

Of course, if you've never been so poor as to look at your monthly bills and say "I'll have to rob a bank this month in order to pay all these," then perhaps Fun With Dick And Jane would be more disturbing than enjoyable.

What does not work as well as it could are some of the Jim Carey antics. There is physical comedy - a bored Dick vaulting around his house - and the musical number by Dick in the elevator on his way up to the fifty-fourth floor that seem out of place in the movie. Much of the humor is more cerebral, like thanking Kenneth Lay and Arthur Anderson at the end of the movie. When I noted that the movie clocks in at exactly 90 minutes, this began to make sense; the script needed some filler in order to make the minimum recommended movie time. It's a sad way to use that time, but we'll let it slide.

In some ways, Fun With Dick And Jane is the movie that Friends With Money (reviewed here!) aspired to be. Dick and Jane lose almost everything and the disconnect with reality and their dreams creates a very real frustration. Unlike Jennifer Aniston's character in Friends With Money, for whom poverty does not seem materially evident, Dick and Jane LOSE their gains in order to keep what little they have. There are consequences for the loss of their jobs in material possessions and social status.

Fun With Dick And Jane might not always be fun or consistently a comedy or a dark social piece, but it ends the balance being worthwhile and worth a watch. And for those who have read my critique of Carey as chameleon actor, Fun With Dick And Jane finds him continuing his Billy Campbell impression from Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind.

For other works with Tea Leoni, please visit my reviews of:
Tower Heist
The Family Man

6/10

For other film reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Why Trekkers Love Galaxy Quest

The Good: Funny, Decent acting, Good concept
The Bad: Predictable plot and character arcs
The Basics: In a clever science fiction comedy, a crew of actors from a science fiction show are impressed by aliens to save their race from a brutal enemy.


As I consider Galaxy Quest, a story Robert Picardo (Star Trek Voyager) told at a Star Trek convention comes to mind. The venerable actor was on stage talking about being on a plane when the in-flight movie was Galaxy Quest. Several people on the plane had recognized him from his work on Star Trek and as he watched, he noticed people on the plane watching him with a generally nervous sense about them. He commented on how when he started laughing and made it clear that he was enjoying the film, the plane began to openly enjoy the movie. It was like the people on the plane who respected Picardo and his work needed his permission to enjoy the parody. Picardo, for his part, enjoyed the film quite a bit; he has quite a good sense of humor (actually, he's one of the funniest people alive today and he was perfectly cast as The Doctor on Star Trek Voyager). The thing is, most Trekkers - which I count myself as - have a sense of humor about our subculture and were thrilled to have a movie that actually includes us (even if in parody).

Years after the cult-classic science fiction show Galaxy Quest is canceled, the actors from the show are finding themselves virtually unemployable as actors and working the convention circuit making money signing autographs and dealing with their fans one on one. The star of the show, Jason Nesmith - who played the captain of the ship - is egocentric and thrives on the celebrity, while his sidekick, the accomplished actor Alexander Dane laments the loss of his legitimate career. When actual aliens arrive to enlist Nesmith in a fight against an oppressive adversary - misinterpreting the old television show broadcasts for historical documents - Nesmith reunites the cast to try to bluff their way through saving the galaxy.

The fundamental problem, of course, is that Nesmith is an actor, not a starship captain, just as Fred Kwan is not an engineer, Tommy is not a pilot and Dane is not actually an alien (though for the convention, he has donned his prosthetic). When it becomes clear that the stakes are life and death, the actors must rise to the occasion and work together to save the galaxy.

There are too few science fiction comedies out there. There are even fewer that are smart science fiction comedies (Dude, Where's My Car? - reviewed here - for example, would fall into the "not smart science fiction" category). Galaxy Quest manages to be a smart science fiction comedy in addition to being a clever commentary on the role of television - specifically shows that have a cult following - in American society and culture. Part of what makes this show work is the concept of how roles like the fictional show Galaxy Quest provide can both make actors and destroy their careers, sprout a loyal and devoted audience and isolate that following from living balanced lives. That's clever and well-executed in this film. It's what we in the subculture "get."

Some Trekkers object to the parody, as most of the fans in Galaxy Quest are overweight, living with their parents and dateless males. Writers David Howard and Robert Gordon call it as they see it and their representation is an accurate parody, the hyperbole of the most visible and disturbing element of the subculture (i.e. it's hard to parody the NASA engineer who was inspired by Star Trek as effectively as the socially-isolated teen whose sole interface with others is the convention experience).

As for the story itself - outside the commentary it seeks to make - Galaxy Quest is solidly entertaining. Nesmith and his crew of actors face the amusing foibles of acclimating to a real ship based on the one they operated for years on their television show. As they experience wonder at stepping on alien worlds and horror at the brutality of the enemy's attacks, the audience finds their fish-out-of-water struggle entertaining.

A lot of it, though, is tied closely with the commentary, though. So, for example, Gwen DeMarco, Jason's quasi-love interest and costar, finds herself feeling useless and angry as her role on the show - and on the ship - was to ask the computer for information. This is a terrible role to play in reality and one that is frequently redundant. Yet, watching her adapt to being the interface on the ship is amusing. Equally amusing is engineer Fred Kwan's easy adaptation to the ship, as if jumping off into outer space and becoming chief engineer of a space vessel happens every day to him.

While the character arcs are largely predictable - Nesmith learns the value of teamwork, Dane discovers the importance of the role he has so long despised - the characters here are intriguing. Nesmith is an entirely self-absorbed egoist and it's refreshing to see how he reacts when faced with reality. After all, how does a man whose career is based on the force of his personality react and survive when real peril presents itself? There's the famous quote to the effect of faking confidence and actual confidence yield the same result and Galaxy Quest seeks to explore that using the foil characters of Nesmith and Dane.

What sells Galaxy Quest to the larger audience is certainly the acting. Tim Allen pulls off the preening egoist Nesmith with amazing efficiency and realism. Allen, as Nesmith, energizes the convention audience when he appears on stage and it is Allen's innate charisma that convinces the movie audience that this is realistic. Allen can work a crowd and in his early scenes as Nesmith, he embodies that type of performer.

Sigourney Weaver, who portrays Gwen, is wonderful as a frustrated actress who lives very much in the real world. Weaver's strength in Galaxy Quest comes from being able to effectively play off Allen and convince the audience of the reality of their love-hate relationship.

Alan Rickman is great as Alexander Dane, though it seems like the role is not a stretch for such a dignified actor. Similarly, Tony Shalhoub (best known for his performance of the quirky detective Monk) is great as the easygoing engineer Kwan. Like Rickman, however, the role does not seem to push the actor into any terribly new territory. Instead, this is a role he makes appear effortless and the enjoyment in watching him perform is for the humor he is able to bring out as a result.

One of my favorite performances in Galaxy Quest comes in the form of Enrico Colantoni's portrayal of the extraterrestrial Mathesar. Colantoni is probably best known to American audiences as the promiscuous photographer Elliot on Just Shoot Me, though he gave an incredible dramatic performance of a mentally retarded son of Andy's sponsor on NYPD Blue for a few episodes in the second season. Colantoni is able to combine the two performances into a humorous, unsettlingly weird presentation of an alien on Earth with Mathesar. He steals the scenes he is in.

All in all, Galaxy Quest is solidly entertaining and genuinely funny, though the humor does not hold up terribly well over multiple (5+) viewings. It's worth your attention and a lot of fun for science fiction fans. Or those who like mocking us.

For other science fiction comedies, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Men In Black III
Paul


7/10

For other film reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing of films I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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With Its One-Disc Pilot Episode Monk Illustrates A Worthy Detective, And An Unremarkable DVD.

The Good: Good acting, Interesting characters
The Bad: No DVD bonus features, Pretty standard detective plot
The Basics: With the "Premiere Episode" release of Monk, an interesting character is created who walks through all of the conceits of the detective series in his first outing.


All detective shows are essentially the same. There, I've said it and committed the ultimate blasphemy to fans of the mystery genre. Objective viewers or readers - little is changed between mystery books and television shows - may easily acknowledge the truth of that argument, but for fans of the genre, it's enough to make me a pariah. And yet, it is true. The only things that differentiate the calibers of detective stories are the characters involved and the level of case being investigated. In other words, it's the characters that make the series and in detective/mystery series' it's the defining factor of what makes for worthwhile vs. passe entertainment.

What separates NYPD Blue from Law & Order from Kojak from Monk is all in the character work and the level of crimes being committed. With NYPD Blue, we have a team of police detectives who week after week are led by the gruff and damaged Andy Sipowicz on cases that help common people right the wrongs done to them. With Monk, we have Adrian Monk, a brilliant loner suffering from an obsessive-compulsive disorder solving crimes in San Francisco. Presented as a no-frills DVD, the pilot episode of Monk, “Monk: The Premiere Episode" is another in a collection of DVDs that seem to be all about luring in a new audience using inexpensive DVDs.

Adrian Monk, obsessed with whether or not the oven has been turned off back at home, is consulting on a murder investigation of a young woman when there is an assassination attempt made on the campaigning mayor. Killed in the crossfire is a bodyguard and when Monk notices some similarities in the higher profile case, he is brought in to consult on the slaying of the mayor's bodyguard. Encouraged by his nurse, Sharona, who is frustrated by how much time and attention handling Monk demands of her Monk begins pursuing his own leads that connect the murdered woman and the dead bodyguard, potentially implicating the mayor, his opponent, his wife and virtually every member of his staff!

Along the way, Adrian Monk is thrust into circumstances that make him uncomfortable and expose his social awkwardness. Meeting with the mayor's wife, he encounters a school full of young children which is basically a hell on earth for the germaphobe. He knocks over a strategic map with hundreds of color-coded pins only to be able to replace all of them exactly based on the single glance he had at the board prior to knocking it over. And, because this is a pilot episode where the purpose is to establish as much in the way of characterization as possible, he ends up on a pole, paralyzed by a fear of heights.

Monk - The Premiere Episode falls into virtually all of the obvious character conceits for establishing a character and a series. Adrian Monk is instantly created as one of the most quirky, brilliant and distinctive detectives since Colombo. He is characterized as suffering from an obsessive compulsive disorder stemming from the unsolved murder of his wife, which instantly raises the intriguing character possibility that at some point, Monk could be cured and lose his distinctive qualities! After all, if all that separates Monk and Monk is the quirky brilliance that comes from a man suffering a debilitating mental illness that makes him unable to live and work with most so-called "normal" people, the open case of his wife's death, with it being the acknowledged trigger to his paralysis, hangs like a shadow over the character and the series. It leaves the viewer - even in this first episode - caught between wanting to see Monk get the closure needed to move on and the secret desire to keep him in his damaged state.

Because in his germ-obsessed, gun-fearing, car-fleeing neurosis, Adrian Monk is an interesting character to watch. He is funny, painfully awkward and it is very easy to watch this premiere episode and get thrilled when the underestimated detective scores a major clue and makes a giant connection because his unique vantage point affords him the ability. Adrian Monk is instantly an interesting character and Monk is a delightful mix of humorous and clever detective work that comes together quite well.

Unfortunately, it comes together in a far-too formulaic way in many respects, no more so than in the relationship between Adrian Monk and his enabling nurse, Sharona Fleming. Sharona is a single mother who finds her life absolutely dominated by caring for Monk and trying to insure that he gets reinstated. In tandem with Monk's therapist, Sharona is the truest pro-Monk force on the show. The problem, then, comes in the form of the conceits that their relationship brings out.

Here in the premiere episode, Adrian tracks down Sharona while she is on a date, angering her to the point where she quits her job as his nurse and assistant. This prompts the mayor and the police captain, Stottlemeyer, to intervene to try to protect Monk from being alone by working to hire her back. The result is a fairly canned sequence that illustrates just how helpless and disabled Monk is on his own without her aid. The problem here is that any perceptive viewer will get all that from the teaser to the episode. As Monk analyzes clues in the very first scene of the episode, he continues to return to the question of whether the oven is truly off at home and it is only Sharona who keeps him focused and redirects him effectively.

In other words, writer Andy Breckman and director Dean Parisot quite effectively show from the beginning what they degenerate into telling later on. It's a disappointing plot and character conceit that serves little purpose other than to flesh out a pilot episode to an hour nineteen minutes instead of the standard forty-three minute "hour" debut. Similarly, late in the episode a scene involving Sharona, Adrian and Sharona's son allows Monk to put together the last clues needed to crack the case in a plot-convenient obviousness that only occurs in films of this sort.

True cinephiles of the mystery/detective genre will note that the scene involving Sharona and her date is compositionally similar to what Chris Carter edited out of The X-Files's pilot episode. The treasured deleted scene to that episode has Scully out on a date to illustrate that she had a life outside the FBI and it seems that Sharona's date scene is trying to make the same point, that she wants to have a life outside of caring for Adrian Monk.

What makes this premiere episode one of the better ones on the market is the quality of the source material. The actors are all doing a pretty impressive job at establishing their characters and the world of Monk. It is a delight to see Gail O'Grady as the mayor's wife, Miranda . O'Grady is known to fans of detective shows as Donna Abandando from NYPD Blue, where she began as an extra and became a regular in the second season due to her overwhelming popularity. O'Grady here is anything but timid or reserved as she was as Abandando, delivering one of the funniest lines in the episode as she watches Monk reinsert pins into the police board.

Bitty Schram, who plays Sharona, makes a distinctive impression from the moment she first appears on screen. She has a very subtle authority to her that makes it very believable that she might be a home health care aid and have the ability to keep Adrian focused. Schram modulates well between the script-demanded compassion and impatience to create a very realistic and vital character.

But it is Tony Shalhoub, who plays Adrian Monk, who is responsible for whether or not the episode sinks or swims. Shalhoub played the chief engineer character in Galaxy Quest and there he had a reserved quality that made for a more subtle form of humor. He seems to call upon some of those same tricks, the shrug, the quiet piercing "what?!" look that he can do with his eyes, but he enhances what we've seen from him before with an even stronger physical presence. Shalhoub contorts his body so that Monk never seems to take up all that much space. Instead, he is focused, compact and walks in a way that gives the sense that he is confined. Shalhoub brings a lot of physical awkwardness to sell the role and he does it admirably.

On DVD, the premiere episode looks and sounds good, but despite the great acting, interesting characters and cripplingly predictable crime-solving plot, it is ultimately impossible for me to recommend this DVD. It's one episode, with no bonus features. I understand the principle of these pilot-episode releases, but do not believe they work. The purpose, of course, is to offer an affordable option for those considering the more expensive full-season DVD boxed set. The problem is, many viewers will watch the first episode, especially of a largely episodic series like this one appears to be, and might even enjoy it but not be intrigued enough by the mere idea that there is more out there. Monk solves a case. Okay, if you buy the DVD season boxed sets that follows, presumably he does it again and again and again. Without even a second episode to illustrate that there is something worthwhile coming up, the viewer has to assume that the repetition is going to be, well, just that. Another episode and a commentary track or featurette might have added some value to this disc that would have made it worthwhile, but as it stands it severely underuses the medium.

For other pilot episode reviews, please be sure to check out my takes on:
“Pilot” - Millennium
“The Cage” - Star Trek
“The First Episode” - Northern Exposure

5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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"Northwest Passages" Opens The Fourth Season Of Northern Exposure With Just Enough To Raise Hopes.

The Good: Moments of character and acting, Final shot of the episode
The Bad: Predictable when it tries to be funny, Lack of real resolution.
The Basics: Very average with slightly better-than-average character work, "Northwest Passage" will entertain Northern Exposure fans, if not a general audience.


In rewatching and finishing the reviews on episodes and seasons of Northern Exposure, I am left considering how some episodes prepared the viewer for vastly better experiences than we ended up with. After a phenomenal third season of the show (reviewed here!), Northern Exposure returned with a somewhat mediocre fourth season that returned the series to very average territory. Indeed, I continued to find myself disappointed by the season as it went on and I think it would have been less of an issue if it had not begun on such decent footing with "Northwest Passages."

"Northwest Passages" opens the fourth season and sets the viewer back in Cecily, quickly re-establishing the world of the show, which is set in the quirky town of Cecily, Alaska.

Maggie is turning thirty and she decides to use her birthday to try to make peace with her past, most notably the terrible and frequent deaths of the men in her life. Encouraged to write to the dead, Maggie takes off for the wilderness for some privacy and tries to reconcile with Rick, Bruce, Dave, Steve, and Glenn, all of whom have died and Maggie feels responsible for. Unfortunately for her, her sojourn into the wilderness begins after her annual physical, results from which convince Dr. Fleischman that she is suffering from an infection. Soon she is, indeed, feverish and confronted by the dead.

While Maggie wrestles with redemption and guilt on the edge of civilization, Maurice begins to narrate his memoirs while walking throughout Cecily. This annoys everyone as he does it constantly and some of his stories sound downright arrogant and bragging. Also, Marilyn tries her hand at learning to drive, encountering Chris's existential philosophy on driving, Fleischman's uptight concept of travel and Ruth-Anne's laid-back idea of driving.

The thing about "Northwest Passages" is that the a-plot works very well. Maggie's story is a decent character study wherein the joke about her boyfriends dying becomes a simple method to explore her insecurities about herself. O'Connell has long been a good foil for Fleischman, but here she becomes a foil for herself and the episode forces her to look closely at what is within her that sets her back. This is a clever concept and the execution of it, with Maggie talking to the dead, works out quite well. There is a strong sense of realism to her portion of the story.

In stark contrast, Maurice's position in the episode seems much like raw attempts to be funny and as a result, they frequently fall flat. It is like Minnifield becomes the sole way the episode tries to be overtly funny and it feels forced. It seems bland and obvious and while Minnifield has the ability to be a funny character, using him solely for comic relief does not work so well.

What throws the balance of "Northwest Passages" is the Marilyn plot. Marilyn, being such a quiet, introspective character works beautifully as a way for other characters to speak up and articulate their world views. So, for example, the scenes with Chris and Marilyn wonderfully illustrate Chris's enthusiasm for the world around him. He is engaged and intelligent and the philosophical elements of Chris that play out best are explored through his interactions with Marilyn. This extends quite naturally from the Chris and Maggie opening of the episode, making for a very organic season opener.

On the performance front, Barry Corbin and John Corbett deliver very standard performances as Maurice and Chris, respectively. Corbin embodies Maurice with his standard rigid posture and somewhat stern demeanor, Corbett plays Chris with his easy-going philosophical nature and loose gait. Neither one does anything here that they have not already done in the series.

The one who does work is Janine Turner as Maggie. Turner is able to play feverish and crazed surprisingly well, making the viewer think she truly is on death's door. This is more than just a matter of the make-up effect of plastering her hair with sweat. No, Turner is able to perform, to shake, to change her voice so we believe that she is actually feverish. Moreover, Turner spends her lucid moments in "Northwest Passage" emoting and establishing her character as one who is truly struggling to reconcile her past and present. Turner has a great ability to emote using her eyes and voice and she brings that to bear in the confrontation scenes.

Ultimately, though, this is a very average episode of television and one that is not going to thrill pretty much anyone but fans of Northern Exposure. Ultimately, my "recommend" comes from the very last moments of the episode which give Joel a moment to be heroic and it truly sets up something wonderful for him and Maggie. Director Dean Parisot ends the episode with a very striking visual and it's enough to say "sure, watch this." But it's hard to see a lot of people going out of their way for it.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Northern Exposure - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the fourth season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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