For everyone who's ever been deeply in love or deeply in debt.
1986-03-26
$10.0M
91 min
After being evicted from their Manhattan apartment, a couple buy what looks like the home of their dreams—only to find themselves saddled with a bank-account-draining nightmare. Struggling to keep their relationship together as their rambling mansion falls to pieces around them, the two watch in hilarious horror as everything—including the kitchen sink—disappears into the Money Pit.
Tonally confused direction, a terminally contrived plot and inconsistent character actions make this nothing more than a light 1980s curio. Too bad, because Hanks and Long do show some chemistry here.
Good watch, would watch again, and can recommend.
Despite this movie releasing in 1986, this movie actually dates really well. With the focus being much more on the horror of real estate and property maintenance, things like smart phones aren't relevant to the story. This could easily be rebooted beat for beat as all the points are still relevant today and the script is well written.
I'm not sure who the equivalent actors to Tom Hanks ("Forest Gump") and Shelley Long ("Cheers") are today, but they would have to be quality expressionists to make the movie work. While some of the jokes are baked into the script with situational destruction around the house, it really is the actor performances that sell the emotion and charm of the movie.
Well worth the watch, and the trip in the way back machine.
