Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #102: The Money Pit (1986).

Newlyweds Walter Fielding (Tom Hanks) and Anna Crowley (Shelley Long) have just been unceremoniously evicted from their Manhattan apartment. But they quickly find a silver lining - they think - when they see their dream house in the suburbs and manage to buy it for a steal... but there's a great reason for that. For no sooner have they unpacked than they discover its appeal is only skin-deep. Their new landlady (Maureen Stapleton) failed - or maybe refused - to tell them every part of it that could be faulty is. Naturally, they then try to renovate it, but that just exacerbates it, particularly after they hire some very dodgy tradespeople and Anna's ex-husband (Alexander Godunov) resurfaces to try and win her back over. As they try to repair their fucked new pad, their marriage is thrown in jeopardy, meaning Walter and Anna must manage to reconcile while salvaging something from their poor real estate choice.

Before he really cemented his career in the '90s, Tom Hanks made some '80s comedies that he should keep well off his CV, but despite some shonky production values this one is hilarious. He pulls all the physical gags off with aplomb (especially a wheelbarrow scene) and also channels Walter's mounting frustrations very well, and Long (who was simultaneously working the bar on TV's Cheers) makes a suitably stoic and compassionate straight-woman. Writer David Giler (best known for co-producing Alien, which is as far away from this as you can get) fleshes the protagonists out with sympathy but clearly enjoyed putting them both through endless DIY hell, and he gives them both plenty of snappy but realistic dialogue. His script also helps to counter Richard Benjamin's uninspired direction the rather dated score..

Like the setting it's not perfect, but as a cautionary tale of a comedy, and as a romance, The Money Pit is nonetheless genuinely entertaining and relatable. The moral here: if you're tempted to buy a low-priced house, get a second opinion.