This is the rarest of the rare: a one-joke comedy where the one-joke is able to sustain the whole film. It all begins when Hanks and Long buy a big, grand, dream house in the New York countryside. It is, of course, too good to be true, after the sob-story old lady has sold it to them it begins to crumble into disaster. But because there are so many angles for the filmmakers to come from---collapse of stairs, wild animals lurking, bad wiring---it manages to hold itself together for around ninety minutes. A big credit goes to Hanks, who's facial expressions are priceless at times. Such as when he accidentally hammers his thumb. Too stunned to curse, he does what we all do, as he begins to beat the hell out of the object he was hammering. Even his charm in the earlier scenes, like dealing with a bratty kid-star, are funny. Long is good as his sort of straight-(wo)man, but Godunov steals all his scenes as her self-absorbed ex husband. Bosco is great as the grandfather of the entire construction crew, and even the sub-sub-characters are engaging as everyone always has a goofy line to chime in with, i.e. the infamous "Two weeks". But the coup de gras of the entire thing is a slapstick set-piece that brings down the house, literally. All I'll say is that involves Hanks going on a proverbial roller-coaster ride in and around the house for a good two minutes. The choreography and timing, starting with Hanks and going all the way down the extras, is amazing. Even if you aren't into the film, at least stay until that moment. There's an extra-marital subplot, that usually in a comedy, never fits. But because we like Hanks and Long so much, we get into it. And it leads to one of Hanks' funnier line readings ever. To the longtime fans of the movie: "YOU WH*RE!"
Review of The Money Pit
