'Dirty Work' (1998)
A movie review by Walter Frith
Member of the 'Internet Movie Critics Association' http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/5713/index.html
Member of the 'Online Film Critics Society' http://smart.sbay.com/ofcs/
The core audience for movies is people between 18 and 24 years of age. I remember when I was that age, I still hated movies like 'Dirty Work'. Even when I was 12 to 18, I still hated movies that insulted my intelligence while offending my sense of decency and good taste. Decency and good taste are, of course, a matter of individual opinion on everyone's part, but let's be honest; movies like 'Dirty Work' are indefensible trash intended to end another wannabe's career. Cue cards may work on the Weekend Update portion of 'Saturday Night Live' but Norm Macdonald's jump to the big screen has him in character doing what looks like a reading of cue cards to execute his lines and every gag in the film falls flat on its face with Macdonald being the biggest of turkeys.
Upon research, I discovered that there have been four other movies in Hollywood history that have the same title as this film and I thought I might be in trouble from the opening credits when I saw that it took three people to write a film like this.
Macdonald stars as a man well into his thirties who hasn't found his way in life and the void we all go through in life seems to be stretching its boundaries in his case. He has trouble holding every job he has, he can't keep a steady girlfriend and is an easy target for insults. His best buddy Sam (Artie Lange), turns out later in the film to be closer to Macdonald than he realizes and Sam's dad (Jack Warden) holds the secret to Macdonald's past that is completely wasted as the humourous way they try and present the scenario will make your jaw drop with its offensive and no talent execution style courtesy of director Bob Saget (television's 'America's Funniest Home Videos' and 'Full House'). How did Saget get to direct a motion picture? He must have more friends than talent. He looks good on t.v. but he also looks like one of the ultimate "bad corn" contributors to modern day pop culture through his efforts here as a director. Next, we'll probably have one of the Olsen twins directing movies.
Failing at every turn, Macdonald and his buddy Sam decide to open a business doing the one thing they're really good at: REVENGE! They find that even though they're relatively successful at it, there are still problems with their new found endeavours as Macdonald is asked to do a job that will strike a blow against the friendly grandmother of a girl (Traylor Howard), that he's sweet on.
Unoriginal, unfunny, rude, offensive (especially to fat people and the homeless), 'Dirty Work' doesn't even look like it has someone else watching besides director Saget, interested enough to try and make the film work. While directors are ultimately responsible for the way a film turns out, sometimes there are other people such as the first assistant director, the writer or even the actors who can create input in making a series of scenes work to become at least a mild success. No one here has any idea of how to do that. It's one of the biggest no talent hack jobs I've ever seen and ranks in my all time worst films list along with other films from the last couple of years such as Tom Arnold's 'The Stupids' and John Leguizamo's 'The Pest'. After feeling ripped off for your money, just remember an old joke that applies to this film, not to be taken seriously but I hope it makes you feel better. If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten!
OUT OF 5 > zero
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