Overboard



A 1987 romantic comedy starring Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. Joanna is a Rich Bitch living with all the creature comforts on a yacht with her husband Grant. While bored during a stopover for repairs in the small town of Elk Cove, Oregon, Joanna hires a local carpenter, Dean, to remodel her closet. Despite the closet being exactly what she asked for, she declares it to be sub-par, stiffs him on the bill, and throws him and his tool box overboard.

After leaving port that night, Joanna goes up on deck to retrieve her wedding ring. She falls overboard and washes up near Elk Cove with amnesia. Her husband, although he comes to see her, does not retrieve her, instead taking the yacht for an extended party with younger women. Dean, however, sees Joanna on the news and decides that a little payback is in order: he tells her that her name is Annie and she is his wife and the mother of his four sons and plans to have her work off her debt by doing domestic chores.

Unfortunately for him, she has never so much as touched a kitchen or cleaning implement in her life. Hilarity Ensues. A remake was made in 2018 with the genders reversed, Joanne replaced by a rich man named Leo and Dean replaced by a struggling single mother named Kate, but otherwise the same plot;  it did pretty badly.

Not to be confused with the newspaper comic strip Overboard. Or the pirate game Overboard!

"Joanna: What's my maiden name? Dean: Annie...Goolihy. Joanna: Annie...Goolihy? Where in God's name did I grow up? Dog Patch?"
 * Amnesiac Lover: Played with, while Dean and Annie were never married, she and he do fall in love with each other.
 * Amnesiac Dissonance: Averted. "Annie" may not have Joanna's memories, but she is still every inch a Rich Bitch.
 * Character Development: Mostly the point of the movie. Joanna/Annie learns simple pleasures and the joy in being kind and loving others, Dean and his sons learn to want something better for themselves and to treasure their family.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Joanna has her snarky moments, especially when she acts like a Rich Bitch:

"You know what your problem is? Huh? You're so goddamn bored, you gotta invent things to bitch about. You haven't got a single thing to do except for your hair. Yeah! The closet was fine! You just needed somethin' to take up your useless, empty, nail-polishing, toe-polishing, rich-bitch, sun tanning days!"
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Annie.
 * Dream Sequence: During "Annie's" first night at Dean's house, water drops hitting piano keys from a leaky roof cause her to dream of being at a New Year's Eve party (with the pianist playing the same tune the water drops make).
 * Finding a Bra In Your Car: At one point, Annie finds her own lacy panties in Dean's glove box. They're not only miles above the quality of her current underwear, but also monogrammed with her real initials. She naturally assumes Dean is having an affair.
 * Forgotten Birthday: Played with. Dean is trying to come clean to Annie, but just can't work up the nerve, so he covers by telling her that the important revelation is that he forgot her birthday.
 * Ignored Confession: When Annie finds her own monogrammed panties in the truck and accuses Dean of cheating, he uses the opportunity to confess the whole scheme to her. She completely ignores it, thinking he's just trying to talk his way out of the affair.
 * I Am Who?: Dean initially withholds the information about Annie's real past out of spite, but as he grows closer to her it becomes more out of fear of losing her.
 * Jerkass: Grant, who possibly crosses over into Magnificent Bastard territory when he abandons his amnesiac wife to a mental hospital so he can run off with the money and play with young "actresses."
 * Dean, at first, until he starts to like "Annie."
 * Meaningful Name: Dean Proffitt.
 * Missing Mom: Dean's first wife and mother of his boys is only briefly mentioned. Dean informs the principal that she passed on three years ago.
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: "Annie", at first, calls Travis "Roy" repeatedly.
 * Not Distracted by the Sexy: Joanna's string bikini.
 * Opera Gloves: Only on the movie poster, pictured above.
 * Princess in Rags: The central joke of the film, although Annie isn't really consciously aware of what she's lost. Ultimately subverted when
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: Joanna loses all of her memories, but still retains all her previous skills, and attitude.
 * Real Life Relative: Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn are, of course, a couple in real life.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech:


 * The kitchen area is directly below the deck where this is taking place, leading to the crew working there to burst into applause.
 * Joanna gets her turn later, when she calls out Dean as a bad father who fails to notice how uncared for and undisciplined his children are. She also calls out the kids' teacher, who thought that they were faking being sick to get out of the test, and somehow missed that they all had massive rashes from poison oak.
 * Rich Bitch: Joanna and her mother.
 * Rich in Dollars, Poor In Sense: All of Joanna's family, but especially apparent with Joanna, who has no idea how to prepare food or clean a house.
 * Sleep Mask: The main character's mother is wearing one of these when the yacht is turned around in the middle of the night.
 * Annie also uses one of the boys' costume masks as one.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: The story of Katarina and Arturo, which becomes a Meaningful Echo at the film's climax.
 * Stealth Pun: When Dean says that he bought "the good stuff" for her birthday, Annie remarks that she's never had anything like it. She thinks it's because the champagne is expensive, but it's really because at "seven dollars a pop" she's never drunk anything so cheap.
 * Suspiciously Apropos Music: "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You" is playing in a scene where it becomes obvious Dean is falling for Annie.