“We aren’t laughing, we’re groaning”: The Tom Hanks movie Roger Ebert deemed to have only one good scene
The concept of a film critic in today’s landscape is more convoluted than ever. It doesn’t take much for someone to claim the title, especially since the dawn of social media, and even veterans seem to have lost their grip on some of the reasons that once made them significant to the industry. However, one name continues to hold lasting importance: Roger Ebert.
Throughout his career, Ebert scathed and praised some of the best, worst, biggest, and lesser-known gems, providing depth and analysis of the stories, characters, and themes that make up the fabric of the movie industry. While the nature of the critic has evolved, the echoed reverberations of Ebert’s words still maintain their impact, shaping the way people reach for resonance beyond the restrictions of the big screen.
To someone like Ebert, an actor like Tom Hanks either establishes the best or the worst playground for film expression, with stories and concepts that either challenge the nature of acting in film or pave the way for some of the most bland and commercial-leaning fodder in history. For instance, while we’re aware of some of the actor’s more established Hollywood hits, there is a stream of earlier ventures that were far less thought-provoking, to say the least.
According to Ebert, one of his worst-ever choices was appearing in the 1986 movie The Money Pit, a film with a quality you can probably guess from its promotional poster alone. In Ebert’s words, the film runs less than average, with a story that only “contains one funny scene and 91 minutes of running time to kill.” Ouch.
Starring Hanks alongside Shelley Long, the movie failed to wow the revered critic due to the lack of depth among its supporting characters and the way each gag feels to fall short. Although it’s normal to expect badly executed jokes in the broader glossy sheen of a movie that doesn’t try too hard to be funny beyond the stream of countless slapstick spectacles, for Ebert, it was just a bit too much, though not enough all the same.
“Instead, we get one monotonous sight gag after another,” Ebert rants, claiming the most “irritating” scene to be one where Hanks’ character falls through the floor, getting pinned down by a rug. He screams until help arrives when he screams some more but only in a way that attempts to ramp up the comedy aspect and add to the urgency to the situation, causing a reaction among the audience when “we aren’t laughing, we’re groaning”.
Although Hanks’ credentials extend beyond the disappointment that was The Money Pit, there’s no denying that half-baked comedy attempts aren’t exactly his area of expertise, especially when the comedy itself relies too heavily on lighthearted physicalities than anything that might have any semblance of a lasting impact. And when Ebert says it’s bad, it’s usually the case.
