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For Richer Or Poorer

1997, Movie, PG-13, 122 mins

FOR RICHER OR POORER
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Insulting the Amish, Part II. Just as the horrid memory of Randy Quaid bumbling his way through KINGPIN in a pudding-bowl haircut and sequined underwear begins to fade, along comes another comedy predicated on the notion that when the laughs are flagging, you can always cut to a shot of some beaming Amish clods. Thanks to the shady business dealing of their crooked accountant (Wayne Knight), Manhattan social fixtures Brad and Caroline Sexton (Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley) find themselves on the IRS's hit list. They flee town in a stolen taxi (please don't ask how that happens) and wind up stranded in Intercourse, PA -- heh-heh-heh -- where they pass themselves off as an Amish couple from Missouri, come to visit some distant cousins. Naturally, the simple routines of plowing, cooking, planting, sewing and feeding livestock (though not much praying, because the more God stuff you include, the harder it is to incorporate gross pratfalls involving cow pies) lead the Sextons to realize they've lost touch with the things that really matter in life. Hokey though all this is, it would be fine if it were funny. But despite the comic bona fides of stars Allen and Alley, the barbed dialogue merely sounds nasty, the physical gags fall flat and the frequent jokes about sex (or the lack of it) are simply smarmy. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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