Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

SimonJack About the only thing this movie might be good for is as a training film for Hollywood stuntmen. It has more falls, spills, and hits than any film I can think of. That includes the Three Stooges films. Tom Hanks (or his double or doubles) has about as many falls as he has lines in this mishmash. On the score of falls to humorous lines, there's no contest. The script for this film is witless and humorless. Who knows what the makers were trying to do with "The Money Pit." I saw it as an attempt to make a new version of an older couple of films that were huge successes. Both were about city slickers who wanted to move into the country and they wind up getting stuck with huge fixer- uppers. The first of those was "George Washington Slept Here" of 1942 that starred Jack Benny and Ann Sheridan. The second was "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House" of 1948 that starred Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. Both of those films had crisp, sharp, witty and wonderfully funny dialog. It mixed very well with their occasional physical blunders or mishaps. But "The Money Pit" has none of that. Without a clever, funny script the repetitious falls, breaks and problems just get old very fast. Without the dialog, even the first few lack humor. This is a real turkey of a film. The only reason I give it three stars is for the brief but very good role of Estelle, played by Maureen Stapleton. Otherwise, it's a real bore.Here are the four brief pieces of dialog in the entire screenplay that I found funny. Max, "Can I speak frankly?" Anna, "Anything's possible."Estelle, as she lights a candelabra, "I'm trying to save a few bucks on the lights… for the blood-sucking lawyers."Estelle, "You know, you think you know somebody… after 25 years, and then one day, Israeli Intelligence comes to the door." Anna, "Israeli Intelligence?" Estelle, "It turns out Carlos was Hitler's pool man."Curly, "I'm from Shirk Brothers. Your name came up in the drawing. We work today." Walter, "That's good. Where is Brad?" Curly, "Oh, south of France I think." Walter, "Well, shouldn't he be here?" Curly, "Oh, Brad is the executive plumber. We do all the work."

calvinnme Some people call this Tom Hanks' worst film. Nope, it was just completely ridiculous to the point that the viewer is supposed to know this kind of thing could never happen on this scale and just laugh, because we've all had these kinds of things happen on a much smaller scale.Tom Hanks and Shelley Long play a couple who have recently fallen in love and have been living in her ex-husband's New York City apartment and not thinking ahead. But then one day the ex-husband, Max (Alexander Godunov), returns and they have to leave.In a hurry to find a place to live, they buy a house for a song that looks beautiful through a disreputable agent. Although they looked at the house - never had an actual inspection mind you - and everything looked okay, things begin to fall apart the day that they move in. The front door and its entire frame fall off its hinges, the bad step on the staircase ends up with the entire stairway crashing to the floor, the bathtub falls through the floor just by filling it with water, and so on. The problems and their cost mount to the point of being way past ridiculous, and as goes the house so goes the relationship between Hanks and Long. To make matters worse, Max really wants his ex-wife back and is taking advantage of her vulnerability and deteriorating mental state.The fact is, nobody in this film but Hanks and Long play remotely likable characters. Everybody else is at best selfish and vain or incompetent, at worse dishonest, including Hanks' dad who ran off and left with his law firm's money so he could marry a girl about one third his age, leaving Hanks' character holding the bag.How will this all work out? Watch and find out. This was the only pairing of Shelley Long with Tom Hanks, and it is rather bittersweet in a kind of "A Star is Born" way, looking back. Tom Hanks had not been able to break out of farce like comedy roles such as this yet will end up getting back to back Best Actor Oscars. Long thought that this role was a stepping stone to better things after she decided to leave Cheers the following year, but she never got anything that really rose above this kind of role and was pretty much out of the movies by 1992.Highlights of the film for me - Gudonov's monologue to Hanks on the perks of being shallow and self-centered, a mouse-trap like chain reaction joke of physical comedy involving Hanks that has to be seen to be believed, and Philip Bosco as the genial and useless supervisor of the construction crew who is all smiles and has only one answer to how long it will take to fix the house - "two weeks".

Scott LeBrun Top comedy stars Tom Hanks and Shelley Long play Walter and Anna, a music industry lawyer and classical musician respectively, who are due to be kicked out of the apartment they've been using. It belongs to her ex-husband Max (Alexander Godunov), an egocentric orchestra conductor. Now they are in desperate need of lodging, and think they've found their solution when Walters' friend Jack (Josh Mostel) tells them about a mansion that the owner (Maureen Stapleton) is willing to unload cheaply. They soon find out the obvious answer: it's because this house is in TERRIBLE shape, and Walter & Anna have a number of slapstick misadventures trying to repair and remodel the house."The Money Pit" benefits from very engaging lead characters & performances; Hanks and a radiant Long have good chemistry and therefore make a believable couple. It also has great supporting characters & performances, too, from a sleazy carpenter (Joe Mantegna, who walks away with his one big scene), a bratty young pop star (Billy Lombardo), Max (the late Godunov is extremely amusing), and a can-do contractor named Curly (Philip Bosco). Hanks figures in the most gut busting moments, and he does one of the most priceless insane laughs that this viewer has ever heard.The movie itself, written by co-executive producer David Giler, and directed by actor Richard Benjamin, does manage to be very funny for a while (with a memorable image of Hanks slowly sinking into the floor), until it all gets a little over the top. Predictably, there is a major bump in the road for the Walter / Anna relationship, giving the story a little bit of humanity.You've already gotten a taste of the character actor talent in this review, but I'll refrain from listing all of the familiar faces in supporting parts and bits so you can discover them for yourself.Impressive stunts and sight gags help to make this a decent diversion.Seven out of 10.

RockyDavid I heard that steven spielberg was an ex producer of this movie really love the story on how that old lady fools out Walter & Anna who payed 200,000$ and moved in.Everything was really funny from the things breaking apart i couldn't stop laughing on how the house started to leak when they went to bed and woke up getting wet all over.it's really a nice way to go back in time watching these lovely 80's movies.i don't think that another era like the 80's would ever come again & can't imagine that this movie is 26 years old.really enjoyed it & wouldn't mind watching it over and over again. at the end it was a lovely house which was later restored better than it's former glory.at the end it's a nice love story which unites walter & anna together.i'm luck to be born in the 80's