Dirty Work (1998)

Mitch,and Sam need to raise money for Sam's Dad(Who is Mitch's too) to get a new heart. So they start a revenge for hire business. Which leads to laugh a minute jokes. And so hilarious cameos. Gary Colemans are the best. "Whatcu talkin about Satan?" See Dirty Work again,and again! Hilarious!

3.5/4

Fmovies: Stars: Norm MacDonald, Artie Lange, Jack Warden, Traylor Howard, Chevy Chase, Chris Farley, Don Rickles. Cameos: Adam Sandler, Gary Coleman, and many others.

You can see in this movie why Norm McDonald was fired from SNL for not being funny. He and Artie Lange are our two main characters and neither are very good actors, so it's really hard to watch them at times. The plot deals with Mitch and Sam starting a revenge for hire business to pay for Sam's (and later revealed Mitch's) dad's (Warden)operation. Some scenes in this film are really quite funny, like the crossing guard that grabs kids rears, or Don Rickles at the movie theater, but more often then not it relies on really unfunny and stupid sex jokes. Bob Saget from Full House directed this, which might explain why it's so ridiculous at times. However it does have a great backup cast, including Chevy Chase as the addictive gambler Dr. Farthing and Chris Farley as a bar buddy that had his nose bit off by a Saigon whore.

If you enjoy Norm MacDonald's brand of humor, you'll most likely enjoy this. My rating: **/****. 76 mins. PG-13 for Sexual humor, Language and Some Backside nudity.

This film got slammed by the critics when it came out, so I avoided seeing it for awhile. A few people told me it was hilarious, but I had my doubts. For some reason, Norm MacDonald had kind of rubbed me the wrong way on SNL. This film alone changed me from a Norm doubter to a huge Norm fan. It is a hilarious, nonsensical film filled with insanity, inanity and a ton of laughs. The cast is a comedy dream team: Norm, Artie Lange, Chevy Chase, Chris MacDonald, Chris Farley, Jack Warden, Don Rickles, a quick cameo by Sandler and a quick cameo by Gary Coleman AND a quick cameo by Tommie Hearns. This film is one of those great, great comedies that any critic would have to hate. It is stupid, yes, on purpose. It is crass, tasteless, idiotic, sophomoric and guess what else? Extremely funny. A must see for fans of less than brilliant comedy.

Dirty Work fmovies. Not everybody appreciates the low-brow, sarcastic attempt that Norm McDonald takes towards comedy. I wouldn't call him a genius like Mel Brooks or Woody Allen, but he knows how to do comedy and he knows how to make people laugh--Well, he knows how to make ME laugh. Sometimes you see humor that's so dumb and meaningless that it makes you crack up. That is demonstrated again and again in "Dirty Work." For example, the scene at the movie theater. Norm and Artie took revenge on their evil boss by showing a movie called "Men in Black...Who Like to Have Sex with Each Other." OK, so this is not humor that was thought of with sheer ingenuity. But I was cracking the hell up! There are all sorts of different angles you can take towards humor. You can't always tell which is the best angle. When you watch an action movie, a drama, a thriller, a mystery or almost any other genre, you look for intelligence and wit. But when you watch a comedy there's two factors--at least there should be two factors--and those are: you laugh or you don't laugh. And different things make different people laugh. So I don't appreciate haters of this movie claiming this is no more than an insult to one's intelligence. You don't need intelligence for comedy. As long as a comedy makes me laugh, I'm satisfied, and I laughed A LOT!!!

I'm glad this movie received a cult following. This wasn't a big hit in mainstream cinema, but lots of friends I know love this movie--some thought it was the funniest comedy of all time. So my recommendation is split: You might like it, you might not like it. Just check it out, there's no harm. Unless you're easily offended by jokes about obesity and homosexuality.

This movie is just great escapist fun, best enjoyed on a lazy day when you're feeling quite goofy and want to watch a totally cheese-ball comedy to give you a good guilty laugh.

It's one of those dumb but lovable comedies that rambles all over the place, taking zany pokes at lots of things in society: relationships, the police, jobs, the opera, homeless people, circus people, drug dealers, doctors, pet lap dogs, and lots more. Oh yeah, there are also dead hookers in trunks of cars. No kidding.

There are wonderfully mirthful performances by the likes of Norm MacDonald, Jack Warden, Artie Lange, Don Rickles, Chevy Chase, Chris Farley, and others (Chris Farley is more than funny in this one - he's downright scary!). I also liked Traylor Howard (Kathy) in this one. What a sweetie!

Anyway, go rent it, turn off any semblance of higher intellect that you may possess, sit back, and enjoy.

*Note to self: watch this movie again, and laugh foolishly all over again.

Norm MacDonald and Artie Lange play two friends who aren't particularly bright and have a long history of screwing up their lives and losing jobs. Then they get the bright idea of opening up their own business--one that will get revenge for a price. The acts of revenge are among the funniest things about the film. I especially loved how he got revenge on the loud neighbors and the sleazy car salesman.

There were some serious negatives in the film such as quite a few flat jokes here, the unfunny bit where MacDonald makes notes to himself on a tape recorder (it was overdone on SNL--it was even worse here) and there was the ending--it seemed to end way too quickly and the resolution wasn't particularly satisfying compared to the earlier parts of the film.

However, this film has the phrase "guilty pleasure" written all over it. While the film has many flat moments, crude jokes and horrible messages, it did make me laugh and laugh--and that's the most important positive about the film. I know I should be ashamed of myself, but you can't ignore a film that puts a smile on your face like this stupid movie did. In addition, I hate to admit that I also laughed at MacDonald's other critically scathed film SCREWED. I feel so dirty--these are NOT deep or sophisticated films and they abound with juvenile humor--but they make me laugh.

By the way, keep note of all the unusual supporting actors that appeared in this film such as Chevy Chase, Don Rickles, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley and Jack Warden (among others). Obviously, there were a lot of folks out there that liked MacDonald and wanted to help him with this film.