Fun with Dick and Jane
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: December 21, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
19
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Writers Nicholas Stoller and Judd Apatow remake is more devilish, hitting its targets with the reckless glee required for a round of Whac-A-Mole. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Logan Hill
A pitch-perfect farce for the post-Enron era. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's a consistently funny script, tastefully packaged by super-producer Brian Grazer and directed with just the right touch by Dean Parisot. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Carrey rolls his eyes and waggles his arms, and Leoni keeps up with him while pushing less hard. He externalizes, she internalizes, and the balance works as it might in a good marriage. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
There's something quietly but unmistakably angry underneath all the slapstick. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin Chang
The rare Hollywood remake that, by daring to reinterpret its source material within a fresh political context, actually has a reason to exist. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Fun With Dick and Jane has lived up to its title: It's fun, and that's fine. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Recycles the 1977 comedy right down to repeating the same mistakes. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Mr. Carrey is such an attention hog that most actresses have a hard time holding on to their corner of the screen when he's onboard, especially in broader comedies. But Ms. Leoni never cedes her ground. Both performers exude such acute neediness - there's a touch of Jerry Lewis and Lucille Ball in their mutual frenzy - that not to love them even a little would seem cruel. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Plays like the setup for a movie that never materializes. It has all the elements for a successful comedy, but once the premise is presented, the film doesn't know how to deliver on its promise. That doesn't mean there is no fun in "Fun." Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Carrey's brand of exhausting physical comedy is a far cry from Segal's useful bewilderment, so this ride is both rougher and loonier. Read full review
60
EmpireSimon Braund
Carrey's back on top slapstick form and brews up great chemistry with Leoni. Read full review
58
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
As social commentary, Fun With Dick and Jane wears Leno-thin. As a big-screen sitcom, it's a procession of hit-or-miss touches that cancel each other out. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Most of it plays out as sub-medium-grade farce, but Carrey has some funny calisthenic bits where he appears to have the pliability of a rubber toy. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
This is familiar clowning territory for our actors -- hypothetically well-matched here, with Carrey a far more sophisticated and energetic comic partner for Leoni than Adam Sandler was in "Spanglish." Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
While the 1977 Fun With Dick and Jane was a reasonably diverting sendup of conspicuous consumption with a subversive if not always razor-sharp comic edge, the new version... replaces smart performances with tired shtick. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
There's really not much fun to be had with Dick and Jane - or anyone else in this anemic comedy. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A sharply comic critique of corporate greed might have added to the national dialogue, but this is a series of hit-&-miss sketches. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Unfortunately, the remake is as toothless as the original and gets bogged down in the humiliations of the Harpers' down-slipping life. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The new film's social message comes through loud and clear, but something in the comedy seems constrained -- effortful, yet muffled. It might be a matter of the right tone never having been found. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerDavid Hiltbrand
In mood and in content is just SO 20th century. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
So how can a project that began with such promise end up such a slick, pandering misfire? The answer, unsurprisingly, has a lot to do with Jim Carrey. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
It's the angriest comedy I've encountered all year, though it's pretty well spoiled by Carrey, who insists on turning it into a star vehicle with his slapstick and spazz attacks. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Much of the film's comedy feels muted; Fun with Dick and Jane isn't a lot of fun. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Wearing a brush cut that never fits the role, Carrey doesn't do a lot here besides flash those vampire-nerd teeth, and I grew weary of seeing them. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
It's all well and good to run a scroll of corporate evil-doers at the end of the film as in Dick and Jane, but if these robber barons were skewered properly along the way, such heavy-handed, last-minute tactics wouldn't be necessary. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
This is satire made from the inside of the ivory tower, and when, late in the third act, Fun With Dick and Jane decides to come on strong with platitudes about how the petit bourgeois really can stick it to the haute bourgeois, it goes from bad to worse. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Has all the depth of an episode of "Joey." Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
None of this is funny enough to justify stealing 90 minutes of your viewing time. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Build a comedy around Jim Carrey in manic mode and they will come. Case in point: Fun With Dick and Jane, a pointless, painfully unfunny and yet inexplicably popular remake of the 1977 fizzle with Jane Fonda and George Segal. Read full review
20
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
A typical end-of-the-year dump film, in that there's almost no reason to see it. Read full review
20
Village VoiceMark Holcomb
This Dick & Jane is precisely the kind of social-problem comedy you'd expect from well-intentioned millionaires unaccustomed to putting their money where their mouths are. Read full review
0
New York PostLou Lumenick
The material has been dumbed down for contemporary tastes and Carrey's frantic comic style. Read full review
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