Fun with Dick and Jane—Sony Pictures

Video: 4
Audio: 2
Extras: 5

Married yuppies Jane (Ta Leoni) and Dick (Jim Carrey) try to keep up appearances after Dick’s fraudulent company implodes in this frequently hilarious romp. Laced with underlying righteous anger at the corporate shenanigans of recent years, the film still holds plenty of laughs in the physical comedy and strong rapport between Carrey and Leoni. The two characters become partners in crime to pay the bills and hold onto their house. Watching Carrey try and fail repeatedly to draw his gun while robbing a convenience store will have you in stitches, and Leoni more than holds her own with scenes like the one where she bluffs her way through teaching a gymnastic-fighting class.

The picture comes in both standard (1.33:1) and anamorphic (1.85:1) versions, both of which are sharp, shiny, and preternaturally sun-drenched—a blond Leoni practically glows. The soundtrack here sometimes overwhelms the dialogue, forcing you to crank up the volume to uncomfortable levels just to hear what the characters are saying. There’s also no choice of audio here. The DVD only offers Dolby Digital 5.1.

You might snooze through the laid-back commentary track by director Dean Parisot and the screenwriting team, but the rest of the extras are a hoot. If you don’t watch the deleted scene where Carrey tangles with a geriatric security guard during a toy-store robbery gone wrong, you’ll be missing one of the funniest scenes on the disc. The gag reel where Carrey cracks up his costars and the highlights from the press junket are also first-rate, particularly an impromptu Carrey-Leoni lip lock.

X