FOR RICHER OR POORER
RATING: 4.5 / 10 --> Poor movie
Review
Date:
August 9, 1998
Director:
Bryan
Spicer
Writers:
Jana Howington and Steve LuKanic
Producers:
Bill, Jonathan and Sid Sheinberg
Actors:
Tim Allen as Brad
Sexton
Kirstie Alley as Caroline Sexton
Larry Miller as Derek Lester
Genre:
Comedy
Year of Release: 1997
TV stars Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley jump into a
cinematic comedy about a rich couple having to deal with the
sudden loss of all of their assets.
PLOT:
Rich, self-absorbed husband and wife team fall into major IRS
problems, when their accountant steals from their funds, and
flees the country. Forced to hide from the government until their
lawyer gets things settled, the duo crash in on an Amish
community, and pretend to be long-lost cousins. Then, the
"hilarity" begins.
CRITIQUE:
Uninspired, predictable, and mostly unfunny comedy that joins TRIAL AND ERROR (4/10) in proving that for some reason, Hollywood executives
like to correlate bad comedies with longer run times (This one
clocks in at a little under two hours.) I never really understood
why people in the Woods of Holly liked to explore the Amish
community to such an extent in film, and this bad movie does
little to resolve my unanswerable query. KINGPIN (8/10)
successfully stepped through such a community last year, but this
movie just doesn't gather any comedy or originality out of this
age-old community of people.
In regards to the actors, Tim Allen doesn't add anything to this
horrible punch, and Alley barely musters any added value, after
she spends the first hour and a half of the film whining about
her newfound situation. Larry Miller is actually pretty funny as
the overly exuberant IRS agent on their tail (He carries a large
gun with him at all times.) But other than him, the film is
basically retreading the old "fish out of water" tale
for the umpteenth time, without a whimper of innovation or
entertainment.
The worst part about this movie is that even the lame attempts at
humour are marred by adult content, which disavows any kids from
seeing this dud on video. And to top that off, they decide to
pull another pseudo-case of MY GIANT (6/10) and get
semi-serious near the end of the film (This is where we recognize
these people as regular folks like you and I with hearts.) Not
one laugh out loud joke here. Nothing original to add to anything
based in Amish folklore. Actors are very generic in their roles.
Avoid this one at all costs, and please try to recommend it to
those all those people who you deeply despise.
By the way, if you do happen to rent it by mistake, at least stay
tuned for the outtakes during the end credits. They are actually
the only snickerable things in the whole movie (Not a good sign.)
Little Known Facts:
In 1978, Tim Allen spent 28 months in jail after being arrested for
attempted drug dealing. His real name is Timothy Allen Dick. He
has nine brothers and sisters.
Kirstie Alley stands 5"7, and is a member of the Church of
Scientology. She was part of TV's "Cheers" ensemble
cast from 1987 to 1993.
Larry Miller's most famous role was as the nice Rodeo Drive salesman
to Julia Roberts in 1990's PRETTY WOMAN (7.5/10).
Director Bryan Spicer's previous attempt at cinematic humour was the
ill-fated MCHALE'S NAVY.
(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
Movie Reviews by Berge Garabedian