1 - I'm not keen on musicals
2 - Seanna's not keen on ABBA
Anyway, back to the point. We took ourselves off to the cinema, unaware of anything good that might be on. From trailers I'd always fancied Fun With Dick & Jane (the film - not an evening of wine, cheesy biscuits and Twister with them) so we thought we'd give it a go. We weren't disappointed. More pleasantly surprised.
PLOT SYNOPSIS (*spoiler warning):
Just as Dick is promoted to Vice President of Communication iof Globocorp and Jane has quit her job to spend more time with her son, Globocorp goes under when its share price drops dramatically.
Dick and Jane embark on a life of crime to get their lives back together (with hilarious consequences).
It turns out the owner of the company sold his entire stock for $400 million and crashed the company himself. And in the end all laid off employees go their money back from a clever little trick that Dick, Jane and the former CEO of Globocorp pulled on the owner.
That's the pleb's analysis for anyone who won't read between the lines. Here's what I got from it.
The film is unbelieveably funny. For the less intelligent cinema goers, theres slapstick and funny voices aplenty. And Jim Carrey playing a well-to-do misunderstood idiot with an edge of genius (as usual).
For the more intelligent humourholics (I hate myself for using a word that doesn't exist) amongst us, the hidden gags are terrific (from the idea the Starbucks CD sampler featuring new material from Sade was a turn on for the two of them to the constant references throughout the film to the moronic outbursts of President Sir G. Dubya Bush). Whether you're one or the other, it doesn't matter. Every minute there's a scene that will make you laugh.
I don't know if it was ironically right-wing or ingeniously left-wing, but assuming the latter I would make this bizarrely funny film one of the greatest anti corporation socialist films I've ever seen (possibly the best since Brassed Off). If I'm horrendously mistaken I'm sorry.
The first you see of this is where you see that Dick and Janes hispanic housekeeper is closer to their son than Jane or Dick are. The child chooses to speak Spanish when he can instead of English like the housekeeper. I'm going to state the obvious - the idea here is that high society, high-pressure jobs distance children from their parents. Hands up who didn't spot that one...
A lot of scenes in the early going (such as those when the ex-workers of Globocorp are all looking for another amazing job, but can't get it due to high demand) have some incredibly cruel one-upmanship qualities about them. This, a direct reference to the cruelty of the rat race and the dispicable lengths (or lows) people will go to just to be able to afford that BMW/crystal champagne/200 acre wood in Northern Switzerland.
It also highlights the desperation of people in monetary plight and what they will do to make ends meet. It doesn't glorify theft or anything, just humanises the broken characters more. And some of the stuff they do is funny as hell. And lastly, it highlights just how quickly you can fall in big company jobs. From financial stability to NOTHING.
Then there's the Robin Hood element. The owner of Globocorp doesn't get away with it as you would guess (thanks to a switch of bank accounts, but I'll let you see that for yourself). To cut a long story short, Dick manages to transfer the $400 million to a bank account registered in his name to repay all off the ex-workers to get their lives back on track. Robin Hood characters always get a heroes reception in these sort of films (remember Shooting Fish?). I think Robin Hood was the original Welfare State to be honest, but then I'm insane so you'd expect me to come out with something as stupid as that.
What I don't understand is that before the end credits roll, the directors thank so many names that belong to large global companies and thank them. Irony? Or genuine nod? I don't know. However, if I'm right, it is a rate powerful message.
And now it's just hit me that I've taken all the fun out of a quality comedy. Why do I always do that?
EIGHT THUMBS UP
