Customer Reviews

Fun with Dick & Jane

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've also loved this movie since I was a kid. Fonda and Segal have terrific chemistry, and their comic timing is impeccable. Sharp, witty script too. I've also been hoping to find a copy with the deleted scene at the cosmetics counter. (I seem to remember Rose Marie from the Dick Van Dyke Show being in it, and it was hilarious.) Sorry not to see it on the DVD. Funny cameos from Anne Ramsey (Throw Momma from the Train) and Dick Gautier as a crooked evangelist. All in all VERY funny.

I loved this movie ever since i saw it when i was a kid.
Two additional scenes were added to the broadcast television premiere on ABC. One that stands out is a scene with Jane (Fonda) getting a job behind a cosmetics counter and having to confront a very difficult obese older female customer. This was a very funny scene that seems to now be lost and Is NOT going to be included in the new DVD release.
I didn't have a VCR at the time to timecapsule this extended version, It never was again! I hoped that it would make it's way onto DVD.
Columbia why do this!!!!! that scene as I rembember it was one of the best scenes in the film and made it even more enjoying. Unhappy fan :(

This is certainly my favorite show for both George Segal and Jane Fonda. They are marvelous as folks trying to make ends meet (by hook OR crook) in the face of unemployment. Their hijinks are very funny, as they exhaust ALL the possibilities for humor in the search for employment and solvency.

Especially memorable are the fashion show, the celebratory dinner (with food stamp inspector), and the performance of Carmen. But good spots in this film are too frequent to cite!

The film is good humored, wry and witty, and altogether diverting!

See Dick. See Jane. See Dick and Jane live beyond their means by using credit cards. See Dick get laid off from his aerospace executive job during a downturn in the economy. See Dick not get a new job because he is overqualified. See Jane not get a new job because she is underqualified. See Dick go on welfare. See creditors move in on the family of Dick and Jane. See Jane make sacrifices. See Jane quit the Book-of-the-Month Club and let the pool go unheated. See Dick get the idea that robbing drugstores, supermarkets and the telephone company would be a good way of getting money to feed Jane and the kids. Steal Dick! Steal Jane! See Dick and Jane turn the tables on the evil boss who fired Dick. See Dick and Jane live happily every after.

George Segal plays Dick and Jane Fonda plays, well, Jane, in this 1977 comedy directed by Ted Kotcheff. Of course "Fun with Dick and Jane" is a less than subtle attack on the vulgarity of the American middle-class. The comedy comes from seeing the trouble Dick and Jane have in dealing with being poor; apparently it is easier to function with nothing if you never had anything in the first place. My favorite scenes are when Dick and Jane's unpaid for front lawn is repossessed by the local nursery and when the aspiring robbers are applauded by customers when they rob the phone company. Segal and Fonda are both fine in comic performances that play to their strong suits, and Ed McMahon takes an interesting "dramatic" as Dick's boss, who not only fires our hero but who also has been skimming money from the company. Maybe that is the source of all that Publishers Clearinghouse money. "Fun with Dick and Jane" is one of the better social comedies about the "Great Recession" of the late Seventies.

If properly promoted, this comedy would have been a major hit. I'm hoping and waiting for a DVD as are 3 others that I know of. Everyone that I have shown my VHS tape of it, loves the movie. In fact I've had this tape floating around with my movie buff friends for a long time and I'm sorry that it is showing its age. I'm just afraid that this is one of those wonderful movies that are going to get lost forever. Watching it once just doesn't allow the viewer to catch all of the spoofs on life. It's even more enjoyable after a second and third time, because of it.

FUN WITH DICK & JANE is a complete romp, delivering exactly what the title promises. George Segal and Jane Fonda deliver top-flight comedic performances as two rich yuppies who are suddenly bankrupt and resort to crime in order to continue their well-to-do lifestyles.

Though she earned most of her acclaim in dramatic roles, Fonda was always a fantastic comedy actress (her Corie Bratter in BAREFOOT IN THE PARK is still a delight to behold some 40-odd years later), and her work here is no exception. George Segal beautifully complements her and their onscreen rapport is phenomenal. This is a rare return to the classic Hollywood screwball comedy style; a sheer delight. With Ed McMahon, Dick Gautier, Anne Ramsey, Fred Willard and Allan Miller.

This motion picture may not have won awards, but it is one that stays in your mind. When corporations downsize and terminate salaried staff, one can wonder what happens to former executives who have limited skills in the real world.

Dick and Jane had been living like there was no tomorrow in a high maintenance life style. When Dick is terminated, they have no resources. The local nursery reposseses their shrubbery and lawn. Their utilities are shut off. Jane finds she has no job skills, and Dick is trying to get by on unemployment. They don't give a thought, of course, to selling their house and cutting back. It's decision time. They decide to turn to crime.

The film has its funny moments, like when they are being pursued by the TV evangelist who wants his money back. They discover that some people don't seem to care if they rob big business, especially if the people are having trouble with the business. But, they discover that they really have no net gain as the money is just meeting their bills as they maintain a high life style (and how do they explain their employment to their social set).

They finally hit on the solution to their troubles. If you steal money that does not officially exist, who will people complain to, the police? Dick discovers he has some inside information, and Jane has a few skills that you would not expect a young woman to learn at a university. Universities don't teach urban survival skills.

The film shows that Jane Fonda could act if she was given a suitable role by a producer. After all, acting runs in her family.

This is one of my all-time favorite comedies. Segal and Fonda are a perfect onscreen couple. They're both hysterically funny without trying too hard. Ed McMahon will never escape Johnny Carson, but he's a pretty darn good actor, too. A lot of people remember the kindly old pharmacist and the randy teenager from "Amazon Women on the Moon", but does anyone remember that it was a spoof based on this movie? It was one of the funniest scenes in movie history. Some scenes are out of date, of course, but Segal and Fonda carry the movie nonetheless - comedic talent like that is rare (sigh).
And now they're doing a remake with Tea Leoni (urp) and the obscene-faced, wayyyyyy overrated Jim Carrey?? It's criminal!!

I actually saw this at the theater when it first came out. I nearly wet my pants laughing. It's a little dated in styles now but still just as funny as ever. I'm sure everyone can relate to some of the scenes. One of my all time favorite movies and I am waiting to buy it on DVD!

Long before Jim Carey starred in the remake, George Segal and Jane Fonda played the roles. Dick and Jane have an ideal life until Dick loses his job. As Dick's quest for a suitable new job drags on, the two must start to face the facts of just how bad their financial situation is. Their lawn has been repossessed and other creditors are banging on their door. But things change for the better when they are in a loan office that gets robbed. Jane pockets some of the stolen money. Suddenly Dick and Jane know how they can get more. It takes a while to get started but finally their criminal career begins and money is flowing in. Things are looking good.

But then one of their jobs goes a little wrong and they have to abandon their take in order to escape. The close call makes then give up their new criminal ways. But only for a bit. The opportunity rises to get back at Dick's boss and score a huge take. A little planning, some training, and the new game is afoot. Of course there are complications but Dick and Jane manage to rise to the occasion. As the tag line states, they lost everything and now they are stealing it back.

I had forgotten much of this film since I saw it decades ago. I was surprised to see how close the remake was to this original (i.e. the repossessed lawn and immigration trouble). But like with The Thomas Crown Affair, the original had a grittier ending. There is some harsh language but no nudity (although Fonda does use the toilet while talking to Segal). Segal and Fonda are delightful to watch as they go through their various disguises. Segal may not be as clownish as Carey but he carries the role very well and Fonda comes across as a much more competent Jane (despite being a homemaker to Tea Leoni's office worker). Strong acting and good comedy make this just as good as the remake although less wacky. Check it out.