Fun with Dick and Jane

Directed by Dean Parisot, Fun with Dick and Jane follows Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni’s characters as they resort to criminal endeavors after losing their respective jobs. Filmmaker Parisot, armed with a screenplay by Judd Apatow and Nicholas Stoller, delivers a watchable yet instantly forgettable comedy that benefits from a short running time and several entertaining performances, as Parisot, in terms of the latter, elicits engaging work from his stars and first-class periphery players like Alec Baldwin, Richard Jenkins, and Laurie Metcalf – although it’s equally apparent that Carrey’s wildly over-the-top turn is often as grating as it is amusing. There’s little doubt, as well, that Fun with Dick and Jane‘s episodic midsection does wreak a fare amount of havoc on its forward momentum (ie the hit-and-miss bent of such segments proves problematic, to say the least), while the absence of big belly laughs ultimately hinders the picture’s overall effectiveness (and impact) – which, despite the inclusion of a decent heist-based final stretch, confirms the film’s place as an okay-enough piece of work that feels like it should be so much better.

**1/2 out of ****