Does anybody remember this movie which is rather dated now? I actually saw it in the theatres. It wasn't really to bad, a bunch of women who are having money problems decide to pull a heist by taking a large ball full of money in a shopping mall. It isn't a hilarious movie but it DID have it's moments. It's a fun movie to see if you like chick flicks AND heist movies-this combines the two and comes up with something, if not great, at least watchable.

My main problem with this is how it doesn't really stick in your mind once you've seen it. It is sometimes funny but never really hilarious. The movie is watchable but never really great. It doesn't come close to being a great movie but is, all in all, a decent one that's good for a few laughs.

After about 25 years, I managed to once again watch this movie on the THIS channel. Unfortunately, some of the lines that I thought were funny were removed like a shoe employee asking "Did you see his sister's boobs?" in answer to his fellow co-worker mentioning someone's foot being smaller than the other. Good thing they didn't remove Elaine's "Suck" punchline when she figured out how to take the money out of that big ball at the mall. As that character, Jane Curtin has the best lines and also plays on her SNL persona well whether stripping in reference to inflation of upcoming years ("Wanna see 1985 or should we skip to 1990?") or talking to her TV show co-star Garrett Morris as an electrician on the phone in trying to convince him to get her power back on. Jessica Lange and Susan Saint James don't have as many moments as Ms. Curtin but they both have some moments. What's interesting here is knowing that not only will Ms. Curtin and Ms. Saint James reteam for "Kate and Allie" in a few years but also Ms. Lange with reunite with Dabney Coleman on Tootsie even sooner before that. Coleman himself is in a role very unlike his more famous role as the chauvinistic boss on Nine to Five later in the year though even here he provides some funny moments. The same can be said for Richard Benjamin as Lange's horny husband, Eddie Albert as Ms. Saint James' father, and Morris but Fred Willard, perhaps best known for his offbeat roles in many Christopher Guest/Eugene Levy films, seems wasted here as Ms. Saint James' fiancée. Overall, How to Beat the High Co$t of Living was quite funny if not completely hilarious. P.S. Garrett Morris is a native of New Orleans which is a two-hour drive from my current hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Three women (Susan Saint James, Jane Curtin and Jessica Lange) are having trouble trying to make ends meet. They try various ways to get money with some very funny complications arising.

I saw this in a theatre in 1980. I was still fairly young so the recession of the late 1970s didn't really affect me--but I still liked it. I remember laughing long and loud along with the rest of the audience. The three women are in top form and the script is silly and totally unbelievable but it still works. With the exception of a brief mild nude scene (a topless woman is thrown in possibly to get a PG rating) this is family friendly. Not a hidden treasure but a fun, silly movie. Slightly recommended.