Boy, did this movie make me mad. It's forgettable as a comedy, but as a satire, it fails profoundly, endorses what it's trying to satirize, takes advantage of the people it positions as disadvantaged. It gestures at having social consciousness but keeps doubling back to wink and say j/k. No one learns or changes, they just accrue wealth differently for a while, and then go back to accruing the normal way. I wound up disgusted.
You might try to tell me that frothy stuff like this is not worth ire, but a) this movie seems like it has a political conscience now and then, so it can't play dumb, b) it's 1977, not 1985, and c) all stuff has influence, frothy or deadly serious.
Memorable for other reasons: Fonda is sensational as always, and her chemistry with Segal is great (comfortable and sparkly, like a good marriage). The interiors are possibly the ugliest I have ever seen, even in much lower budget films. Just shockingly hideous. It was remade in 2005 with Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni, and I haven't seen that one, but I'm frankly surprised that such weak material got remade. Curious if they leaned toward the class consciousness or toward the comedy.
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