The Money Pit (1986)

I am definitely watching more movies with mediocre receptions lately. Maybe I'm more open to the possibility of being among the few fans. Maybe just seeing titles again and again without knowing much about them wears on me. I'm sure the convenience of streaming has something to do with it.

How silly of me to think that this title implied a pit that provides money. Instead, it refers to a superficially beautiful mansion that Walter (Tom Hanks) and girlfriend Anna (Shelley Long) buy for "merely" $200K up front, only to find that they'll have to go still deeper in debt for much-needed repairs.

TMP is typically summarized as a remake of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, but I sense key differences. First of all, Walter and Anna have a more desperate situation than the Blandings family: They've been suddenly evicted, and it's hard to find a New York City residence on short notice. Second, they're not remodeling the whole place, just trying to get it in working order. Third, most of their problems are not really their fault. They're not tuning out an expert, nor do they make many blatant mistakes beyond the initial purchase. They just have questionable contractors and general bad luck.

On that note, I should say that TMP doesn't have MBBHDH's problem of lacking exaggeration. Things go so horribly wrong that I'm not entirely sure they're possible in RL. The trade-off is a focus on slapstick over higher-brow dialog. Probably the funniest scene is a Rube Goldberg device of accidents.

Alas, some moments haven't aged well, assuming they were ever widely enjoyed. Walter has an obese friend whose delusions of health have led him to multiple heart attacks. He also knows a bunch of men who dress like women but make no effort to feminize their faces or voices. Whether or not they're mocking LGBTs, they certainly don't elicit many laughs today.

TMP is rated PG, but it's a pretty strong '80s PG, so it leaves MBBHDH in the dust for edginess. Like Mr. Blandings, Walter suspects his wife of infidelity, except with more reason to do so. Third billing goes to Alexander Gudenov as Anna's ex-husband, who gives her support while hoping to win her back. Despite characterizing himself as shallow, he might actually be the most complex character herein.

Of course, Hanks must be the best feature of the, er, feature. Even early in his career, before he got into dramatic award-bait fare, he showed a lot of talent. In this case, that largely means alternating between frustration and forced optimism or amusement. Long tries for the same, but there's a reason she never attained his level of success.

For a movie with Steven Spielberg among its executive producers, TMP falls short of expectations. It doesn't exactly engage the brain beyond "At what point would I have thrown in the towel?" But especially in this era, you might want to check out a lighthearted story of people with likely worse problems than your own somehow pulling through.