Dirty Work (PG-13) * (out of ****)
_Dirty_Work_ has a premise of deliciously mean-spirited potential. Mitch Weaver (Norm Macdonald) and his lifelong best friend Sam McKenna (Artie Lange) are losers in life: they were constantly picked on in school, and now they cannot hold regular jobs. But as the trailer goes, "There is one thing Mitch Weaver is good at--revenge." So he and Sam parlay their unmatched skill in getting-even schemes into a marketable revenge-for-hire business called Dirty Work Inc.
This should be the groundwork for a wonderfully wicked black comedy, but for a film called _Dirty_Work_, what ensues is rather clean of spirit. In fact, what makes Mitch and Sam start up their business is not a giddy desire to give bullies a taste of their own medicine, but rather a more sappy reason: Sam's father (Jack Warden) needs a heart transplant, and in order for him to move at the top of the recipient list, his compulsively betting doctor (Chevy Chase) asks the guys for $50,000 to pay off his bookie. So for all the scheming that goes on, beneath every underhanded plot is--gasp!--a heart, which undercuts the inherent nastiness of the premise.
Not that there isn't a lot of nastiness on display--there is, but of a different sort. There are frequent sexual references, most prominently in the form of prostitutes and Sam's impotent father's ongoing lust for them. And for a film rated PG-13, director Bob Saget (yes, that Bob Saget, of _Full_House_ and _America's_Funniest_Home_Videos_ fame) and writers Frank Sebastiano, Fred Wolf, and Macdonald himself, stretch the boundaries of good taste rather far--arguably a bit too much so (was not one, but two separate instances of sodomy between animals really necessary?). But the issue, of course, is not so much of taste as it is humor--as in, is it funny or not? The answer is a resounding no.
It's not that Macdonald isn't a funny guy. He was one of the more consistently funny performers on _Saturday_Night_Live_ before his much-talked-about firing, and his dry brand of smartass wit translates well to the big screen; it also doesn't hurt that he's a natural, likable screen presence. He is able to give some of his lines a nice acid touch, but, for the most part, the oneliners, as written, are flat, and the broad slapstick gags just don't work (one running gag has him being literally tossed out of buildings--a real riot). Still, Macdonald's few shining moments are just about the only moments the film has. The late Chris Farley, as hysterical as he ever was, is amusing in a cameo role, but, as a whole, the supporting players are amateurish and seemingly free from any directorial guidance.
Saget tries to juice up the proceedings with kitschy cameos by Gary Coleman, Adam Sandler, and John Goodman, but their minimal novelty value cannot prevent _Dirty_Work_ from sputtering to the end of its brief 81-minute running time. The film closes on a sad note of desperation, an indulgent reel of outtakes from which only those involved in the production would derive any amusement. Come to think of it, I cannot imagine anyone but those involved in the production to find much amusement in the entirety of _Dirty_Work_.
Michael Dequina
mrbrown@ucla.edu | michael_jordan@geocities.com
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