"Overboard" falls into the category of film that's best described by the phrase "this was so good, how come I've never seen it before?". It may not have a lot of explosions, gross-out humor, sex, violence, or big name stars, but it works because of the clever writing and the highly enjoyable performances by its lead actors. In fact, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell save the film from being a complete loss, since the overall story and most of the secondary actors are pretty weak.

At its core, it's a simple story of how truly well-off people of lesser financial means are compared to the mighty rich and powerful. The crux of the story deals with the flim-flam Dean Proffitt (Kurt Russell) pulls on Joanna Stayton (Goldie Hawn), an overbearing and incredibly obnoxious rich woman who fell off her yacht and came down with amnesia. She had stiffed him on a job he did on her yacht when she arrived with her husband Grant (Edward Herrmann) and so he seeks to get revenge by claiming her at the hospital as his wife, "Annie". She's forced to cook, clean, and care for his boys all the while Grant is relieved that she's gone and goes off to party and live the single life. Eventually, "Annie" comes to genuinely care for the boys and for Dean, and they come to find the feelings are returned. This all leads to the eventual conflict and resolution when Grant has to come back for her after her mother (Katherine Helmond) demands that he find her and make her available. After learning the truth, Annie/Joanna has to make the choice of the rich life or the poor, but happy one.

***THE GOOD***

Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn have a great chemistry together in this film. Whether dealing with each other as employee/employer or slave driver/unwilling dupe, there's enough hilarity in these situations to make the movie quite enjoyable. Russell's best when he's playing off of Hawn, and Hawn's at her funniest when she's either the rich, obnoxious, and rude Joanna Stayton or the unwilling house slave Annie Proffitt. Hawn takes the stereotypical rich person attitude and turns it up a few notches to great comedic effect. Even when she was brought to the hospital, her obnoxiousness was driving everyone crazy, from the local television reporter to the cop and her own doctor. I was impressed that she could do it with such a straight face. I just wish the DVD could have held some outtakes which undoubtedly would have been hilarious.

The writing, for the most part, was pretty good. There are a lot of very funny, repeatable lines of dialogue here, most of which are at the beginning before Joanna gets amnesia.

For example:

"Andrew! Are you going to bring me my lemonade or do I have to squeeze it out of my hat?"

"What is this gelatinous MUCK?"

"I hunt it, you cook it." "You shot a chicken?"

The situations that Joanna/Annie got herself into as she was thrust into domestic life in the home with absolutely no clue to what she was doing was very funny...the writing in regard to that was well done. Too, there is a lot of heart to the overall story. You know the two will end up truly falling for each other and it's portrayed convincingly when Dean begins to feel regret for what he did and genuinely cares for "Annie".

***THE NOT SO GOOD, BUT TOLERABLE***

The story itself is pretty unoriginal. Someone takes advantage of someone with amnesia. Big whoop-dee-doo. It was also extremely predictable so you knew what was coming each step of the way. The ending, too, is quite trite and absurd, but then again so is the movie overall. It would have been nice to have a little something different thrown in from time to time, but Marshall chose not to go that way. But, because Russell and Hawn are so good, the story becomes secondary while you watch them.

Dean's kids (played by Jared Rushton, Jeffrey Wiseman, Brian Price, and Jamie Wild) simply can't act. They're just terrible. The little kid, Joey, in particular wasn't funny, though for some reason directory Garry Marshall liked to have the camera focused on him quite a bit. I guess he was put in for the "cute kid factor" and I found him more irritating than anything else.

The filming was pretty choppy at times. On several occasions the characters would be saying something, but you wouldn't actually see them talking, even when you could see their face. This usually happened with the kids, but also several times with Dean's friend Billy (Michael Hagerty).

***FINAL COMMENTS***

It's not a great movie, but it is highly enjoyable and very funny. I can't stress enough how good Hawn is, first as the rich wench, and then second as the floundering amnesiatic housewife. The real-life relationship between Hawn and Russell only added to the great chemistry that shows up with them in the film. This is little more than a fluff movie at most, but still, buy it or rent it and you'll be glad you did. I definitely recommend it for those who haven't seen it.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8