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● Movie Guide · Last updated May 18, 2026

The Money Pit: Plot, Cast, Ending & Where to Watch

1986 · United States of America · Comedy, Romance · 1h 31m · English

The Money Pit is a 1986 United States of America comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin. This guide covers the plot, full cast, an overview of the ending, where to watch, and similar films you might want next.

Read Ending Explained → Movies Like The Money Pit Where to Watch
ComedyRomanceNotable
Original Title
The Money Pit
Director
Richard Benjamin
Writers
David Giler
Country
United States of America
Runtime
1h 31m
Release
Mar 26, 1986
§ 01 Plot · 6 min read

The Money Pit Plot Summary

The Money Pit is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long as Walter Fielding and Anna Crowley, a couple who attempt to renovate a recently purchased house. The film is a loose remake of the 1948 Cary Grant comedy film Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, and was filmed in New York City and Lattingtown, New York. It was co-executive produced by Steven Spielberg.

● Quick takeaway

The Money Pit (1986) is a United States of America comedy film, directed by Richard Benjamin, running 91 minutes. After being evicted from their Manhattan apartment, a couple buy what looks like the home of their dreams—only to find themselves saddled with a bank-account-draining nightmare. Struggling to keep their relationship together as their rambling mansion falls to pieces around them, the two watch in hilarious horror as everything—including the kitchen sink—disappears into the Money Pit. Stars Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. Critical reception: IMDb 6.4/10, Rotten Tomatoes 52%, Metacritic 49/100. Tagline: "For everyone who's ever been deeply in love or deeply in debt.." This guide covers the plot, full cast, ending, and where to watch.

§ 02 Cast · 6 roles

Cast and Characters

Tom Hanks headshot
Tom Hanks
as Walter Fielding, Jr.
The Money Pit lands inside the run of Hanks comedies — Splash, The Man with One Red Shoe, Volunteers, Dragnet — that established him as the most reliably charming light-comic lead of the mid-Eighties before Big and Punchline began the pivot. Walter is the role that lets Hanks do sustained physical comedy: falling through floors, riding a tarpaulin down a flooded staircase, the famously sustained laugh into a kitchen wreckage. The performance reads as Hanks beta-testing the slapstick muscle Robert Zemeckis would later use in Forrest Gump.
Shelley Long headshot
Shelley Long
as Anna Crowley
Long, three seasons into Diane Chambers on Cheers and at the height of her television fame, takes the screwball-romantic-comedy lead and grounds it. Anna is the orchestra liaison whose ex-husband is a flamboyant European conductor and whose new boyfriend is a financially overstretched American lawyer, and Long lets the character's exhaustion register without ever pushing her into shrillness. Her timing in the disintegration scenes — particularly the long bathtub sequence — is the film's reliable centre.
Alexander Godunov headshot
Alexander Godunov
as Max Beissart
Godunov, the Soviet ballet defector who had recently played the lead Amish suitor in Witness and the lead henchman in Die Hard the following year, brings genuine balletic physicality and a Slavic flamboyance the role would otherwise lack. Max is written as a comic obstacle — a vain ex-husband who refuses to leave Anna alone — and Godunov plays the vanity straight, which is what makes him funny. The performance is a small window into a Hollywood career cut short by his early death in 1995.
Maureen Stapleton headshot
Maureen Stapleton
as Estelle
Stapleton, an Oscar winner for Reds five years earlier and one of the great American character actresses of her generation, takes the supporting role with the kind of unfussed authority that makes a single dinner-table scene land. Estelle's appearance is brief but anchored, and Stapleton plays the maternal weariness with the same instincts she brought to Interiors and Plaza Suite. The film borrows her reputation more than it tests her range.
Joe Mantegna headshot
Joe Mantegna
as Art Shirk
Mantegna, two years before House of Games would make him a David Mamet leading man and decades before Criminal Minds would cement his television career, brings a Chicago-theatre-trained wisecrack rhythm to the electrician role. Shirk is the contractor who manages to be both useless and indispensable, and Mantegna's deadpan deliveries — particularly the running gag about the wiring being mostly fine — are some of the film's reliable laugh-getters.
Philip Bosco headshot
Philip Bosco
as Curly
Bosco, the Tony-winning Broadway veteran whose film career filled out across the Eighties and Nineties with Working Girl, The Pope of Greenwich Village and Three Men and a Baby, plays the head contractor as a man who has seen every variation of this disaster before and has no patience left for any of them. Curly's pragmatism is the closest the film has to a grown-up voice, and Bosco's stage-trained authority gives it real weight.
§ 03 · Spoiler Zone · Read with care

Ending Overview

How does The Money Pit end? Our spoiler-aware breakdown walks through the final act beat by beat — including the choices, motivations, and ambiguous final shot that viewers most often debate.

Read full Ending Explained →
§ 04 Watch · Updated May 18

Where to Watch The Money Pit

Availability may vary by region and change over time.

A
Amazon Video
Rent
● Available
A
Apple TV Store
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G
Google Play Movies
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Y
YouTube
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§ 06

Frequently Asked

What is The Money Pit about?

After being evicted from their Manhattan apartment, a couple buy what looks like the home of their dreams—only to find themselves saddled with a bank-account-draining nightmare.

Where can I watch The Money Pit?

See the Where to Watch section below for the current streaming, rental, and purchase options in your region.