Dirty Work (1998)

reviewed by
Homer Yen


No Fun Doing "Dirty Work"

Perhaps best remembered as the recently departed news anchor on Saturday Night Live who always started the segment with "...this is the fake news," Norm MacDonald, at times, could elicit some laughter by blurting out semi-offensive phrases in his raspy voice, coated with a condescending attitude. His shtick was marked by crassness. In this movie, for example, when his girlfriend says that she's kicking him out because he's been fired from 14 different jobs over the last 3 months, he tries to calm the situation by saying, "maybe you'll feel better after we have some dirty sex." This kind of humor can only go so far, but certainly can't go the distance in a full-length feature.

"Dirty Work", is nothing more than a sophomoric comedy about two best friends who grow up only physically. Emotionally, they've never outgrown their pubescent years, which is somewhat amusingly explored in a beginning flashback. Although having no apparent real world skills, the one thing that these two have always been adept at is getting back at people. If the meter maid was unjust in giving you a ticket, then dump a bunch of unpopped kernels of corn onto the engine block and watch the car burst apart.

Mitch (Norm MacDonald) and Sam (Artie Lange) need to come up with $50,000 in a period of two weeks so that Sam's dad (Jack Warden) can have a heart operation. Their idea is to start a revenge-for-hire business where they'll do your dirty work. In the funniest scene (and possibly the only funny scene) of the movie, they take advantage of a live television shoot at a nearby used car lot. Their presence is established, but when a less-than-honorable real estate developer hires them and then reneges on the payment, the two go to work to exact their sordid brand of revenge.

By default, Dirty Work should treat us to some outrageous revenge plots, but it delivers Jerky Boys level material. Except for the bit at the used car lot (and possibly another episode that involves frat brothers), the dirty work is uninspired and becomes about as funny as a prank phone call. Already weak on material, it further spirals itself towards the video store by having Jack Warden constantly blurt out that he has an unsatisfied libido and needs 'broads' and also includes a very unfunny Chevy Chase as a bumbling doctor with a gambling addiction. But what's really painfully evident is that Norm MacDonald has no versatility as an actor. Relying on his trademark of speaking into his personal recorder and saying "note to self" ("note to self: learn to fight," he says after getting beat up; "note to self: there's always beer," he says after hitting rock bottom; etc.), we feel like we're just watching an elongated rehash of his not-so-glorious days on Saturday Night Live. Much like the television show, for 90 minutes we get one or two funny bits. The rest of the story is just dead space.

Grade: D

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