Dirty Work (1998)

Starring: Norm Macdonald, Artie Lange, Christopher McDonald, Chevy Chase, Chris Farley, Jack Warden, Traylor Howard, Don Rickles, John Goodman, David Koechner, Fred Wolf, Jim Downey and Rebecca Romijn, with cameos by Adam Sandler, Gary Coleman, Ken Norton, and Kevin Farley
Grade: Classic

Calling a girl “Mildred” because you didn’t know her name and just guessed might be one of the funniest jokes ever put on film.

Summary

Ever since they were kids, Mitch Weaver and Sam McKenna were best friends. In a flashback to show when they were kids, Mitch gets his lunch money stolen and is thrown in a dumpster. He didn’t have a dad growing up, so Sam’s dad Pops (Warden) filled in a little. Pops is a tough guy and former boxer and gives the kids a very important lesson of never taking crap from anybody. Admittedly, Mitch never liked Pops, but he took this advice to heart and came up with the idea of getting Sam to help him steal Pops’s guns and planting them in the bully’s desk to get the kid in trouble at school. The bully got arrested, and this incident put them on a path to get back at people on a consistent basis. One time, there was a crossing guard who would grab the children inappropriately as they walked by. So, Mitch put super glue on his pants and the guy got his hand stuck, as Mitch yelled to get everyone’s attention. Another time they took a picture of their mean babysitter while she was in the bathroom. When Mitch was 16, his mom died, and it was the saddest day of his life. Unfortunately, he’s not great at expressing his emotions, so he would start writing notes to himself from time to time. In high school, Mitch and Sam were still getting back at people. They put popcorn inside the car of the meter maid who gave everyone parking tickets, and they borrowed Mitch’s cousin’s gay German shepherd to take down the Doberman that chased them every day.

In the present day however, they’re not having the same type of fun. A now grown Mitch (Macdonald) is a pizza delivery man for Aldo’s Pizza and tries to get to the delivery spot in thirty minutes or less. He has to take a detour because someone was being towed in the middle of his route and gets there two minutes late. Despite Mitch’s pleas to the customer to give him a break because the pizza will come out of his paycheck, the customer doesn’t care and shuts the door in his face. Mitch goes back to Aldo’s and tells the owner that he in fact did get there on time, but the guy refused to pay. Doubling down on the lie, he tells Aldo that the customer called them all “sweaty Italian fruits” and disparaged Mussolini. Aldo stops Mitch because he knows he’s lying, as the customer already called and told Aldo that Mitch was late. After Mitch suggests they get rid of the “thirty minutes or less” promise because everyone else has, Aldo flips, fires him, and physically throws him out of the place. Next, Mitch drives to his apartment that he shares with his girlfriend Toni-Ann. She’s dumping all of Mitch’s clothes out of the apartment and selling them to random people on the street. Her uncle is Aldo, and he called to tell her that he fired Mitch. Since it’s the 14th job he’s held in three months, she can’t take it anymore. She’s paid for everything in the apartment too, so he’s pretty much moved out already. He brings up that he paid for the popcorn machine, so she tosses it out the window. A now grown Sam (Lange) walks back to his house and sees Mitch sitting on the front steps with his popcorn machine and correctly assumes he’s been thrown out for good this time around. He offers to fix his flat tire too. Mitch asks if he can stay with Sam and Pops for a little while, and Sam brings him in without question. Before Mitch goes inside with him, he tries to stop some guy he sees wearing his shirt. The guy takes it off but reveals such a ridiculously hairy chest that Mitch changes the subject and lets it go. Inside the house, Pops is watching some workout video because he’s currently obsessed with getting whores. Sam asks Mitch to watch Pops for a bit, so he can call somebody to borrow a jack for Mitch’s car. Mitch is unsure because Pops creeps the hell out of him, but he relents since Sam has to leave. He sits down with Pops, and he starts choking Mitch because he overheard him talking about how he’s creepy. Sam runs into the room and saves Mitch.

That night, Mitch and Sam hang at the bar and discuss how things were better when they were younger and how Mitch didn’t take crap from anyone if they messed with him. Now, Mitch’s life sucks and he takes crap from everybody. He says things could be worse and jokingly brings up how his nose could have been bitten off by a “Saigon whore” just to get a rise out of his friend Jimmy (Farley). Jimmy almost flips until Mitch explains how he was joking because he saw him and buys him a drink. As Sam goes to flirt with a girl there, Mitch turns to the television to see a report about mogul Travis Cole (McDonald). Apparently, he has bailed out the city once again by coming up with the funding to save the Chelsea Opera House. Kathy (Traylor Howard) comes up next to Mitch to hear the last of the news report and Mitch comments how great of a life Travis must live because he doesn’t take crap from anybody. The two start to hit it off, but Mitch sees Sam is about to get into a fight with some random guy and his friends over the girl they were trying to flirt with, so he goes over to help Sam. The two get their asses kicked. Later that night, Mitch and Sam tail them to the frat houses while wearing cop uniforms. Mitch uses the payphone to pose as one of the frat guys’ friends and tells them that there are two guys dressed as cops going door-to-door, so they shouldn’t believe whoever shows up at their place. Following this, Mitch calls the real cops for a noise complaint and sends them to the frat house where all the guys are at. When the real cops show up, the frat guys immediately attack them, and all subsequently get the hell beat out of them by the cops and arrested on the front lawn. Mitch and Sam sneak into the melee still dressed as cops and punch two of the frat guys out. Eventually, they celebrate at home and watch TV with Pops until Pops gets a heart attack. At the hospital, Mitch watches Pops as Sam goes to get the doctor. Pops wakes up and admits to Mitch that he’s legitimately his father. To prove it, he shows Mitch the locket around his neck. It’s a picture of Pops and Mitch’s mom having sex. Pops doesn’t want Sam to know though because he doesn’t want Sam to feel like he’s been lied to his entire life and makes Mitch promise not to tell him.

Mitch refuses to promise and tries to argue with him, but they are both interrupted by Dr. Farthing (Chase) who asks if Mitch is Pops’s son. Mitch freaks out and leaves the room. In Dr. Farthing’s private office, Farthing has a sit-down meeting with Mitch and Sam and reveals that Pops is fairly close to dying. Pops needs a heart transplant, but he’s a low priority on the donor’s list because of his age. After he tries selling off an adjustable hospital bed to them, Sam storms out of the room. Farthing admits to Mitch that he’s a compulsive gambler (he bet against Rocky in Rocky III), but he can still help them and there is a way Pops’s name can be bumped up the donor list. They need to drum up $50,000 in two weeks and pay Farthing directly because he’s in trouble with his bookies. That night, Mitch and Sam stand on the roof of a building and wonder how they’re going to get the money, right after Sam is done taking a piss on some guy below. Mitch is optimistic, but Sam isn’t so sure, though he did get his sister Carole to give him $2,000. As Sam talks about getting a job and Mitch saying he’ll help him along the way, the guy who got pissed on arrives on the roof and chases them. The next day, Mitch and Sam try to work construction but get fired almost immediately for their lack of experience (“Well, we lied on our resume. We know nothing about construction.”), and they later test out some new brownies on the market for some company. Sam is lucky to not suffer any side effects, but Mitch gets itchy and extreme hallucinations where he’s in hell with Gary Coleman and Satan (Sandler). Following this, Mitch and Sam go to work at a movie theater, but they are embarrassed after the owner Mr. Hamilton (Rickles) insults the both of them while threatening the rest of the staff before a big premier. Once Hamilton exits the room, a couple of the workers (one of them being Kevin Farley) offer Mitch and Sam $10 if they get back at Hamilton like they say they’re going to because no one there likes Hamilton. Someone else offers $20. With this, Mitch and Sam take over the projector room and put on a gay porno in place of Men in Black. Instead, it’s Men in Black who like to have sex with each other.

Both Mitch and Sam look away as they turn on the projector. Sam tries to sneak a peek at the screen though, so Mitch takes a note to self about it, prompting Sam to try and argue why he did it. All the customers run out of the theater and trample Hamilton. Mr. Witherspoon (Chris Gillett) fires Hamilton for the incident, as he was the one who Hamilton was trying to impress that night. Afterwards, Mitch and Sam collect their money from the theater workers, and one guy remarks that they should do this for a living. Outside, Mitch brings up the idea to Sam that they should open the first ever revenge-for-hire business. Sam isn’t sure, but Mitch is positive a lot of people are going to hire them to do their dirty work. Not long after, Mitch and Sam open their business and rent out a building and everything, calling the place “Dirty Work Inc., Revenge for Hire”. They’ll be making money hand over fist, but will the wrong customer test their morals in the process?

My Thoughts:

Dirty Work is more than just a cult classic. It’s arguably a comedic masterpiece and without a doubt one of the most underrated comedies of its era. Had the studio not recut the movie to make it PG-13, there wouldn’t have even been an argument. Even so, Bob Saget directs this outrageously funny, almost meta-comedy, that has a vibe to it that feels like it serves more to make the crew laugh while the viewer is along for the ride. Not everyone will understand the genius involved in Dirty Work‘s comedic stylings, but it’s so unique in its brand, its humor, its odd but innovative premise, and its sarcasm in jokes and its acting, that it deserves a second look from everyone.

From top to bottom, there is so much fun to be had in Dirty Work. It’s very much like an early Happy Madison production, but it stars Norm Macdonald instead of Adam Sandler. With Norm being the lead, the story and humor is twisted to fit his style of humor, which is admittedly not for everyone. It’s not controversial to say that not everyone understands Norm Macdonald’s comedy. As much as we praise him today for his unconventional meta-humor, unorthodox non-sequiturs, absurd setups, and unexpected punchlines, audiences of his time weren’t prepared for the type of comedy he brought to the table. Even in his prime on Saturday Night Live, he was fired for “not being funny” by executives. Though his controversial jokes on people like OJ Simpson and Michael Jackson and feud with producer Don Ohlmeyer played a big part in his firing, a less talked about factor is that they just didn’t get his humor. Norm himself admitted to performing jokes on SNL‘s Weekend Update that he knew weren’t going to get big reactions. He was always catering to his niche. It’s what made him who he was and why he stood out from the crowd of so many other talented comedians and comic actors. Today, we can see he was ahead of his time and a niche film like Dirty Work was also ahead of its time, which is why it has been reappraised by many. It’s a damn shame that audiences didn’t realize how stupidly funny it was because if we had more comedies like Dirty Work, the genre of comedic films would be in a much better place today had it succeeded. Plus, we would have gotten Norm Macdonald starring in more films catered to his weird style, which would have been great for everyone. Unfortunately, because of Dirty Work and the underrated Screwed bombing back-to-back at the box office, Macdonald was relegated to TV work and supporting film roles for the rest of his career. Though he’s still a legend in comedy circles, he still only scratched the surface of what he could have done for cinema.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is why making money at the theater is important and also why a marketing campaign from a studio that believes in the movie is even more important. It’s a fucking travesty that Don Ohlmeyer legitimately prevented NBC from airing advertisements from MGM to sabotage Dirty Work AND wouldn’t let the ads be playing during airings of Saturday Night Live when Ohlmeyer’s initial decision was eventually overturned by his boss Robert Wright. All of it was because of the producer’s vendetta against Macdonald. According to Macdonald himself, Ohlmeyer’s influence even forced the cancellation of his promotional appearances on Today in New York, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and Access Hollywood. The shows may have denied it, but considering all that we know, I have a hunch Norm was right. Plus, it’s not like those shows would have admitted such a shocking truth because spilling the beans on something like that would affect them greatly. Do you see what I’m getting at? Corporate meddling cost a “dumb” comedy millions, helped negatively change the course of Norm Macdonald’s career, and potentially could have altered the timeline of what the future of comedy could have been. Maybe I’m overstating Dirty Work‘s impact, as I will concede my bias for the movie and its star, but I do genuinely believe in its greatness. In addition to this, I would even argue that the team of Macdonald and Artie Lange could have been a consistent hit at the box office too had Dirty Work succeeded and been promoted as the daring film it was. Their chemistry and ability to play off each other was Chris Farley/David Spade levels of good, but the twist was that they care even less as humorists.

Damn you, Don Ohlmeyer. This could have been the start of something beautiful.

Now, Norm Macdonald is not a great actor, but there is a charm to what he does in Dirty Work. He could have taken it a bit more seriously, but his fearlessness in his lack of conviction as Mitch is an amusing decision that somehow works for the tone of the movie. If you’re an acting coach, you’d never recommend Macdonald’s performance here to a student, as this approach may fail nine times out of ten, but Norm is such an enigmatic comedy figure that he can get away with such buffoonery. Once the viewer settles in and rolls with what he’s doing, you start to appreciate it more, like when he responds in an over-the-top manner to Sam when he tries to hide his lie. When it’s combined with his unique voice and second-to-none delivery with his quips (“Hey, maybe you’ll feel better after we have some dirty sex!”), he makes his goofy, sketch comedy style of acting into something strangely endearing. Again, it wouldn’t work for anyone else, but Norm Macdonald is just built different. Now with any great comedy, Dirty Work is also endlessly quotable. You know how everyone in their older years still references Caddyshack, Dodgeball, or Billy Madison or something and they start with, “Remember when…” before recalling a great gag those movies did? Dirty Work is one of those films, but it’s one of those gems that not everyone has seen like its contemporaries. Recurring gags like Kirkpatrick threatening to punch people in the stomach, Chris Farley screaming to the heavens about “The Saigon Whore that bit my nose off”, the hysterical hijacking of a car commercial by Mitch to promote Dirty Work Inc. (“I know a dead hooker when I see one!”), Mitch and Sam questioning whether Travis Cole has a thumb up his dog’s ass (“I’m telling you he’s doing that dog”), and the funniest bit of the film being the disaster at the party house are laugh-out-loud hilarious. There’s also the great bit Sam somehow never hearing about prison rape and Mitch getting raped within two minutes of being in jail while telling the other prisoners how they have a lot of growing up to do (“Ridiculous“). It’s classic late 90s humor. What can I say?

Regardless, there are some moments in Bob Saget’s film that you could stack up against any of the greatest comedies ever and it would not only belong, but it may trump them.

In a way, Chevy Chase is sort of a refined version of Norm Macdonald’s humor, which is why he’s always defended Norm in interviews. It’s probably why the notoriously hard-to-work-with legend agreed to be a part of this production and is certifiably hilarious as the gambling addict doctor. With his deadpan being as great as it ever was (“When a bookie blows off one of your toes, you still owe him the money. Doesn’t seem fair to me”), Chase steals every scene he’s in. Any time he shows up, like when he has a cast and calmly states how he was recently thrown out of a speeding car for his debts or when he refuses the offer of installments and instead says, “Might I suggest kidnapping the child of a celebrity?”, Chase kills it every single time. Why he couldn’t do more of these roles in his twilight years instead of awful voiceover work for foreign animated movies is beyond me. He still had a lot to give. Plus, the general idea of a gambling doctor is just flat-out funny. Despite playing a smaller role, his addiction essentially drives the whole plot, and the feather in the cap to it all is when he’s finally paid but tries to bet Mitch that he won’t go to his bookie. I cannot stress enough how consistently amusing and rewatchable Dirty Work is. Lastly, we can’t commend Christopher McDonald enough. The man was just born to be a diabolical villain in comedies. His Travis Cole is almost on par with Shooter McGavin, and his “killing of two birds with one stone” plan is low-key really good. Also, the two sequences in which we see Mitch and Sam destroying shit is so much fun. It capitalizes on the premise of the movie tenfold.

From homeless people turning down Mitch’s $1 offer of trashing Travis Cole’s building by screaming and acting like crazy people to instead doing it without question for $2 to Mitch realizing he had sex with his own sister years after the fact, Dirty Work is the perfect comedy for and by slackers, screw-ups, and friends that live to make each other laugh. The only thing the main characters are good at in life is getting back at people and messing things up, and a lot of people can relate to a premise like that. Powered by great comedic minds in front of and behind the camera and a cute love interest in Traylor Howard, the goofy Dirty Work is lowbrow and sophomoric on the surface, but it embraces a meta approach to its ahead-of-its-time core, while fearlessly throwing conventional mainstream comedy to the side in an effort to still tell a great story, but do something unique, creative, hilarious, and memorable with it.

For those that don’t look into movies like that and more than likely won’t see it from my “superfan” perspective and just want a basic description, you’ll like it if you like Adam Sandler films. If you aren’t a fan of the “so stupid, it’s funny” label, then you may not appreciate the nuanced brilliance of Dirty Work.

Fun Fact: Norm Macdonald offered the role of Satan to Howard Stern, but he turned it down. So, Adam Sandler was cast instead.