Guilty Pleasures: Dirty Work

In 1997 I discovered Saturday Night Live, sort of. It wasn’t like I didn’t know of the show’s existence previous to 1997. I had grown up watching VHS copies of The Best of John Belushi and Eddie Murphy before that. However, in 1997 I figured out how to program my VCR to record things and would tape SNL late at night.

That particular cast has always had mixed responses. People always hold the original cast on such a high pedestal that it’s impossible for any cast to be considered great. I’m one of the people who still considers the 1990-1995 cast as the best. But in 1997 this was the best cast there was. While tons of kids loved Will Ferrell, Jim Breuer or Tim Meadows at this time; my guys were Tracy Morgan and Norm MacDonald. 

I knew of Norm as the Weekend Update host. When he was fired from Weekend Update, I stopped caring about the show. Why he was fired is still an on going controversy. Some say it was because of his constant OJ Simpson jokes while others said it was because he wasn’t funny. Either way, his firing led to NBC refusing to air commercials for Dirty Work.

The movie did poorly as did MacDonald’s second film Screwed and he hasn’t really starred in a film since. Regardless, I still adore both of these movies, specifically Dirty Work.

The film follows Mitch Weaver (Norm MacDonald) a sarcastic slacker who can’t seem to keep a job or a girlfriend around for more than a few weeks. Having nowhere else to live Mitch crashes with his best friend Sam and Sam’s angry former boxer father Pops. Suddenly Sam and Mitch realize that their gift of vengeance could actually become profitable. They start up Dirty Work Inc and eventually have to take down the rich but evil property developer Travis Cole. 

The film received extremely negative and harsh reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating score of 17%. Watching this movie I can understand why someone would hate this film, Norm MacDonald is the definition of love or hate comedy. You either think his roast of Bob Saget is either the greatest thing in Comedy Central history or the worst moment in television.

I, however, adore Norm MacDonald, so from the second I saw a commercial for Dirty Work I knew I wanted to see it. What’s funny is I know I saw it in theaters, I know that for a fact but I don’t remember ANYTHING about the experience except that I enjoyed the movie. I couldn’t tell you who I saw it with or anything.

I do remember the Summer it came out on VHS my cousin Dave and I watched it constantly and quoted it even more frequently. The film is a quote a second movie that’s complete lack of care is part of the appeal. Jokes are force-fed at you and Norm’s dry to the point of non-existent timing truly is the star of the movie.

Dirty Work is a vulgar film directed by Bob Segat but according co-star Chevy Chase, the film was supposed to be much more vulgar and crude. However, the studio demanded a PG-13 film so the script got chopped down. Despite this and the negative critical response the film has become a favorite amongst comedians and shock jock radio DJs.

If you are a fan of anti-humor and you’ve never experienced this cult classic, drop waht you’re doing this second and go buy this movie (because it’s probably cheaper used online than any rental store).

When he’s not watching poorly reviewed movies Matt Kelly is hosting the Saint Mort Show, writing in his blog Pure Mattitude and tweeting throughout the day.