Brad (Tim Allen) and Caroline Sexton (Kirstie Alley) are showy real estate developer who's always on the hustle. They are an annoying pair who are only outwardly rich. They get framed by their accountant Bob Lachman (Wayne Knight). The bickering twosome is too hard to watch. Why would anybody want to stay with this married couple if these two angry people don't.Of course Brad steals a cab on the run from gun shooting IRS agents, and Caroline just happens to hop on for no reason. The two unlikeable people escape and crash in Amish country. There they learn to be wonderful caring sweet people. Call somebody who cares.These people are ugly. And Tim Allen had this moment when he's trying to get money from the ATM. They had his ugly mug stuffed right onto the screen yelling at the audience. It's a horrible moment in cinema. The greatest sin is that nothing here is unfunny. Absolutely nothing.

This movie is great and I can't understand why it didn't do better at the box office. It's a fun film with lots of laughs - also heartwarming how this totally foreign and initially irritating environment at the Yoder farm leads the Sexton's from chaos in their lives to stability in their marriage. Yes, some of it is far-fetched and highly unrealistic, but folks, it's a FILM! Why must everything be reality these days?! Reality can really suck sometimes and an escape with a movie like this is just the ticket to two hours worth of wishing life could really be like this. I thought the actors portraying the Yoder family performed extremely well and were immediately likable. I am a Pennsylvanian and have been to the "Amish Country" countless times. I know this film was shot on location in Maryland, but it really does closely resemble the Amish Farmlands in Lancaster County, PA. Who cares what the critics thought in 1997. This film is a favorite!

This movie strikes me as the reverse of Tim Allen's Home Improvement. There, Tim's the over the top ham and his sidekick Al is the tempering force trying to contain him. Here, the Amish do the job and they are the greater force that really tone him down while still giving him plenty of opportunities to be funny. The theme of materialism getting into the way of relationships is needed in 2006 even more than in 1997 when this movie was released. It would be well for everyone to re-watch it now to realize that materialism has gotten totally out of control in today's world. Another thing that makes this movie enjoyable is that it isn't frantic like most comedies are. Too many try to emulate the Marx Brothers. In the frantic lives we do lead today to sustain our materialism, it is nice to have something slower paced yet still not bore you to death.

"For Richer or Poorer" was something I dreaded, even more than girls dread Shannon Hamilton. How could Tim Allen and that waste-of-flesh Kirstie Alley make a good film? Well, I was shocked and awed. Should you run out and buy this movie? No. But don't go running away from it either. You'll find a film that is generally heart-warming, sincerely funny, and underneath its comedy exterior a good moral tale. Allen and Alley assume the roles of two Amish folk to escape the IRS. As their lawyer fights to get them acquitted, they find a whole new world they had been missing while enjoying caviar and martinis. You might not be able to get the modern world into the Amish, but maybe you'll find a little bit of Amish in us modern folk. While not something you "must see", recommended if you're stuck home and you see it listed on Comedy Central. You could do worse.