everything you have heard about this movie is true.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Consistently funny spoof of America's caste system from bottom to top. The Harpers (Fonda &Segal) are yuppies trying to hang on to middle-class status after Dick is fired from well-paying aerospace job. Increasingly desperate as creditors close in, they eventually turn to robbery, a clumsy Bonny and Clyde with country club credentials. Their early lame stickup efforts are particularly humorous. There's no mistaking the subtext that takes a shot at about every rung on our economic ladder, from minority welfare cheaters to middle-class status seekers to upper-class hypocrisy. And throw in a shot at televangelist hucksters guarding their own loot. A couple points are easily overlooked. Note how Jane's wealthy dad refuses to help, lecturing them on the virtues of rugged individualism. Tellingly, this is the one scene without a humorous overlay. Note also that Dick's thanks for helping get a man on the moon is to get fired. Thus, it's declining profits, the logic of capitalist efficiency, that prevails over all else. Essentially, what storybook Dick and Jane find out is what it's like to survive on the margins, and since their tastes are elevated, it's an inflated margin.Don't get me wrong. Thanks to both an excellent script and ace performances,the movie manages its many serious points in consistently humorous fashion. After all, we never expect Dick to actually use his stickup gun. He's too humorously inept, though he does get more skilled as time goes on. And catch how the now destitute Dick and Jane live in a rambling home with a bombed-out lawn and a pit for a pool. Now what will the neighbors say. Big kudos to Segal who handles his difficult role in expert fashion, and also to Fonda who makes a perfect bickering soul mate and for being maybe the first woman to take a discreet leak on screen. McMahon too shines as the slick company president who smiles even while stabbing a guy's back. As an actor, he certainly proves he's more than Johnny's affable TV sidekick.Anyway, in my little book, the 90-minutes succeeds on a number of levels, making it both really watchable and still relevant.

Dick Harper (George Segal) and Jane, his wife (Jane Fonda) believe themselves to be living the high life. Dick has a great job and they are just putting the landscaping and pool into their dream house. But, alas, Dick gets fired by his asinine boss (Ed McMahon) and they are quickly behind on payments. Although Dick signs up for unemployment and gets it, its still crazy hard to pay any of the bills. Also, when Dick hilariously tries to moonlight as a gypsy song and dance man, his act is caught by the State officials and his income is cut off. No other jobs in the aerospace industry come along. That's when Jane gets the zany idea to try holding up businesses and doing other shady crimes to make ends meet. They even take the offerings of an obviously crooked evangelist ( an hilarious Dick Gautier) as he starts spouting off some VERY UNCHRISTIAN sentences. When they find out Dick's former boss is a cheater, too, D and J make plans to fix him but good and vastly increase their incomes. Can they pull it off? This adorable movie is a comedy classic that everyone will like. After a string of very serious roles, like Klute, Fonda chose to show her funny side again and she's great. So is Segal, who has never been more likable or attractive. Gautier, McMahon, and all the supporting cast is quite nice, too. Also, you will like the sets, costumes, script and energetic direction. This is fun, fun, fun, indeed, with Dick and Jane.

In these trying times, when American's financial world is going down the drain, and the dreams, aspirations and livelihood of millions of Americans are evaporating, a film like this one is just what a despairing audience needs. The story of the American Middle Class in jeopardy and is aptly personified in this movie, called 'Fun With Dick and Jane.' There have been several other films based on this theme, but for my money, the stars of George Segal and Jane Fonda are solidly entrenched and not easily replaced by later film couples. Segal stars' as Mr. Richard Harper a Aero-space executive who as his boss (Ed McMahon) states is the very best at his job, but like so many other corporate executives is no longer needed. His position is one which promised security, but has fallen on hard times. Thus he soon learns he is unemployed. The fun begins when Harper and his wife try to adjust to the downward spiral of economic descent. They like so many Americans take what they can get and object poverty is not attractive at all. Thus, when the bottom is ready to engulf them, they turn to a life of crime. Can they do any worse? Not being prepared, they soon realize, they are not cut out to be white collar criminals and decide to quit. That's when opportunity beckons once again. A great movie and one fitted to our time. ****

I saw this movie in the theaters back in 1977 and it is one of my favorites.The chemistry between George Segal and Jane Fonda is good and there are some very funny moments like when he tries to hold up an Afro-American bar and they just look at him and ask "When did they start busing the white robbers to the black neighborhoods?" The other crack that was risqué for the time is when Dick shoves the pistol in his waistband and screams. Jane sweetly looks at him and says, "Don't go off half-cocked."Dicks career as a car thief isn't going very well as even his aerospace knowledge can't seem to help him hot wire a car. Jane points to a convertible next to the car he is try to steal and he says, "I don't know anything about foreign cars." She says, "I think you can handle this one. The keys are in it." And off they go in a 1974 Jaguar XK-E convertible. Later at the party, someone is admiring his Jaguar and he cracks, "I took one for a test drive and loved it."Ed McMahon is great as the drunken manager firing everyone, playing off his reputation from the Johnny Carson show and connections with Budweiser as their spokesman.It's really a very funny movie for it's time and wears well with age. The remake with Jim Carrey is nearly unwatchable. I have both on DVD and haven't been able to watch the remake more than once.