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  • Widescreen 1.85:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
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  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
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  • Theatrical trailer
  • Featurette

The Money Pit

Universal/Universal . R4 . COLOR . 87 mins . PG . PAL

  Feature
Contract

That famous name synonymous with such accountable cinema today, Steven Spielberg, comes up at the start of this movie. Perhaps this is where his long association with Tom Hanks began? At any rate, Spielberg produces this film, The Money Pit, though it resembles little else he has done (legend has it Spielberg produces movies he would like to see, but not direct). First released in 1986, The Money Pit was only a moderate success at the box office and followed in the footprints of another Spielberg produced film, Young Sherlock Holmes - again only a moderate success.

A thinly veiled modern reworking of the Cary Grant vehicle Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House, The Money Pit shows Tom Hanks doing a lot of what he did in his early career; being funny. Shelley Long’s character seems to be the ‘straight man’ to Hanks, and is therefore quite uninteresting as his partner.

"They test the missiles here, or what?"

Our story sees Tom and Shelley in a beautiful studio apartment in New York (some fictional city in America). Anyway, her ex-husband is coming back from a tour of Europe (he’s a maestro) and wants his place back. So, desperately, they buy a million dollar mansion for a song. It’s only after moving in that the truth sinks in that it was cheap for a reason. Now, as they get contractors in and working and the weeks roll into months, their relationship begins to crumble around them, even as the house once did.

The film does contain some well orchestrated slapstick sequences that are genuinely funny, and Hanks attaches his own brand of floppy humour to them. Long, however, does little with the paltry material assigned to her, making this a poorly concealed Tom Hanks vehicle at most. Still, it’s a watchable film and Hanks does shine in his role as frustrated homeowner and record company lawyer.

Not really delivering much by way of subplot, other than that between Long’s ex-husband and the fact he wants her back, we are left with a rather shallow series of misadventures and clowning as the house under repair provides. So, it isn’t a think piece by any shot, but a thin comedy that attempts to give more than it can possibly ever deliver.

  Video
Contract

Presented with a 16:9 enhancement of its original theatrical aspect of 1.85:1, The Money Pit looks relatively good. There are some odd moments of grain, particularly in the darker interior shots, but the shadows in these parts look okay. There aren’t a lot of details in the darker regions, being a stark empty house, but we get enough of an idea from what we can see. Blacks are true, save for the previously mentioned isolated instances of grain.

There is a liberal spattering of artefacts throughout, although these are tiny and there isn’t anything truly major about them. Aliasing comes up occasionally, but we could almost expect that with so many scaffolds and timbers and staircases jutting at odd angles. It certainly isn’t anything monstrous and isn’t disruptive. Flesh tones are all even and the colour levels are all nice and well balanced.

  Audio
Contract

Being a 1986 film, glam pop rock was at its height and this opportunity hasn’t been missed by the musical director. Power ballads and radio rock jump out at the slightest provocation and do get a shade irritating by film’s end. The fact that Hanks plays a music lawyer has been milked for some lame jokes and seemingly as a chance to get this leather-clad rock into the film.

The sound effects are all nicely managed, though. With Hanks falling into things and out of things and through things so often, the sound editors had their work cut out for them and they seem to have done a fairly precise job of it. Some good synching there. However, whilst dialogue has also been synched well, there is an instance where Hanks is speaking to an all-girl band (made up of overweight bearded men, ha ha). To the lead singer he states, ‘You aren’t changing your name to Meryl Streep’ and I swear they’ve dubbed the gag in later, because that’s not what his lips are saying. Maybe it’s just me, I dunno, but it looks pretty suspect. Other than that, the dialogue is fine and well spoken (even by the grizzled voice of the lead bearded shemale).

  Extras
Contract

Just the two, so I’ll keep this short: The original trailer stops in for a grainy, 4:3, minute 25 and the making of featurette drops in for seven and a half minutes. This too is grainy with artefacts aplenty, plus a taped-off-a-tape blurriness to it. It’s a typical sell job and contains a couple of interviews with the director and Hanks being spontaneously funny (although I didn’t quite get it). Dodgy inclusions, but inclusions they are, at least.

  Overall  
Contract

I’m sure there are a huge amount of folks in the Bunnings set who will find this funny for the numerous opportunities to say, ‘Yes, ha ha, that happened to me’ or ‘Oh ho, I’d die if that happened with our tiles’ or whatever. Unfortunately for the rest of us, while this does contain some genuine laughs, it’s a trifle outdated now and getting further from us each year. It’s always good to see Tom being funny like he used to be, but that too dates the film, doesn’t it? Oh well. Perhaps rent this one first.


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      And I quote...
    "While the film's okay, the quality of the extras rhymes with pit..."
    - Jules Faber
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Nintaus DVD-N9901
    • TV:
          Sony 51cm
    • Receiver:
          Diamond
    • Speakers:
          Diamond
    • Surrounds:
          No Name
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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