Dirty Work – Review

Pops (Warden) instills in his young son Sam (Lang) and his friend Mitch (MacDonald) not to take crap from anyone. So, they plant guns in the desk of the bully. After getting a taste of revenge, the pair set up a local crossing guard who liked to grab kid butts as they passed. It was the day and age where no one paid attention to this behavior, unless one was caught red handed. Therefore, they put glue on their pants and call out the pedo when his hands are literally grabbing their behinds.

As the pair got older, their schemes remained the same, however eventually they became men. Now older, Mitch is delivering pizza, however he gets fired as he is late on the 30-minute-or-free guarantee. This was his 14^th job in the last 3 months. Not only that, but as he arrives home after his fresh firing, he finds his girlfriend (or now ex) throwing out his few owned items, clothing and popcorn machine. Ouch.

Back to his best friend Sam’s place it is, with the shirt on his back and not much else. Mitch does not like his strange relationship with Sam’s Pops much and is depressed about all the crap he takes from everyone. At least he didn’t get his nose bitten off by a Saigon whore like Jimmy (Farley). In walks mega cutie Kathy (Howard) which perks up Mitch. Unfortunately, though, Pops has heart issues and a hospital need of 50K.

So, now we got Mitch and Sam, former child revenge experts, and maaaany surrounding asshole idiots blocking personal growth, progress and monetary gain. Mitch and Sam struggle to find normal work, and eventually find their calling. With hottie Kathy, Mitch has a reason to try and do better in life, buuut he also finds ways to make money helping people around town with revenge schemes. Pal, I know a dead hooker when I see one.

The comedy is mostly self-deprecating as Mitch is the butt of most jokes, but Norm MacDonald has his typical humor on display most of the time as well. His quips are both funny and clever while being raunchy or appropriately dirty in the right contexts. The film is over the top as most comedies are. Plenty of good cameos boost the only okay script, which is fine itself but nothing too amazing. I do like this movie more than most reviewers which appear to really not like it, but I would say new viewers should temper expectations for the best experience.

Let’s just fight, weirdo.

There is a recently released “dirtier cut” which undoes many of the edits the film made in order to secure a PG-13 theatrical cut rating. It is about a minute longer, but does have a few changes and is “raunchier.” Ultimately, it probably doesn’t matter which version is watched.