There are not many deep, searing looks at the human condition in movies or television shows about kitchen remodeling projects.  Kitchen remodeling projects just scream comedy.  You all have all the elements for comedy – sharp tools, destruction, the potential for lethal accidents and falling off ladders.  Although kitchen remodeling projects can make a do it yourselfer do a lot of soul searching, Hollywood will never make a movie entitled The Zen of Kitchen Remodeling Projects unless it’s comedy.

Comedy Teams

In the days of the Depression and World War II, Americans needed a break from reality.  They could find this at the movie theatre.  By watching The Three Stooges or Laurel and Hardy make a total mess of anything they came close to, including kitchen modeling projects, movie goers got incredible therapy for a minimum price.  In the film, things needed to be fixed or restored to order.  The most incompetent fools in the country are given the job to do this.  By laughing at the comedy teams, they were laughing at the times they lived in.

Home Improvement

One of the most popular television comedies of recent times has been Home Improvement, based on the stand up comedy of Tim Allen, who also starred in the series.  In the series, the man paid to teach others on national television how to do jobs around the house like kitchen remodeling projects, always makes a mess of it.  This parallels the other more intangible jobs around the house he has to do in the relationships between his wife, children and neighbors.  At that, he’s much better.  Audiences connected to the character as they had with The Three Stooges of Laurel and Hardy.

The Money Pit

In the late 1987, our home went through The Summer of Construction Workers, including a botched kitchen renovation project that needed to be fixed several times.  When the workers finally left for good, Mom and my brother celebrated by renting a movie that poked fun at the very situation we’d been going through.  It was called The Money Pit and starred Tom Hanks in one of his most forgettable roles.  In it, a likeable young couple buys the house of their dreams.  As soon as they sign on the dotted line, the house starts falling apart around their ears.  My Mom and older brother found it to be hysterically funny and continue to recommend this movie to this day.  However, I bawled my eyes out.  The movie was just a little too close to what we had just gone through.

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