Dirty Work (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dirty Work | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Bob Saget |
| Produced by | Robert Simonds |
| Written by | Frank Sebastiano Norm Macdonald Fred Wolf |
| Starring | Norm Macdonald Artie Lange |
| Music by | Richard Gibbs |
| Cinematography | Arthur Albert |
| Distributed by | MGM Distribution Company |
| Release date(s) | June 12 1998 |
| Running time | 81 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $13 million |
| Official website | |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Dirty Work is a 1998 comedy buddy film starring Norm Macdonald and Artie Lange, and directed by Bob Saget. In the film, long-time friends Mitch (Macdonald) and Sam (Lange) start a successful revenge-for-hire business, and try to earn money for heart surgery for Pops(Warden). All goes well until they must do a dirty job for an unscrupulous businessman. In order to be paid, and expose their deadbeat customer, the pair hatch an outrageous revenge scheme of their own.
The film was the first starring vehicle for Macdonald and Lange, and the first film directed by Saget, who left his long-running role as host of America's Funniest Home Videos to begin a directing career. It is the last film appearance by Chris Farley.
The film received broadly negative reviews from critics, and received low box office returns. However, it has since become a cult favorite.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- Norm Macdonald as Mitch Weaver. Macdonald's first starring role, soon after he left[1] Saturday Night Live.
- Artie Lange as Sam McKenna, Mitch's friend. Lange's first starring role, after being fired from Mad TV.
- Jack Warden as Pops McKenna, Sam's dirty-old-man father.
- Traylor Howard as Kathy, interested in Mitch
- Don Rickles as Mr. Hamilton, an insulting movie theater owner.
- Christopher McDonald as Travis Cole, corrupt businessman.
- Chevy Chase as Dr. Farthing, the greedy doctor.
Cameo appearances included Rebecca Romijn as Bearded Lady, John Goodman as Mayor Adrian Riggins (uncredited), Adam Sandler as Satan(uncredited), Gary Coleman as himself, David Koechner, and Chris Farley as Jimmy(uncredited). This was Farley's last-released film appearance. Former SNL writer Jim Downey and former SNL writer/performer Fred Wolf appeared as homeless men. Both writers collaborate frequently with Macdonald and Adam Sandler.
[edit] Plot
Growing up, friends Mitch Weaver (Macdonald) and Sam McKenna (Lange) "don't take crap from anyone", as Pops McKenna (Warden) taught them: they get a bully arrested for (planted) gun possession, and catch a kiddie-fondler in the act (with glue). After losing many jobs and his girlfriend, Mitch moves in with Sam. Pops' heart is failing, but the gambling-addicted Dr. Farthing (Chase) will only raise Pops on the transplant list if he is paid $50,000. Mitch and Sam use their only talent to start the "Dirty Work" revenge-for-reasonable-rates business. Starting small, they avenge theater workers abused by their manager (Rickles) by showing "Men In Black (Who Like To Have Sex With Each Other)" to a packed house. They exact increasingly lucrative reprisals for satisfied customers until they interfere with unscrupulous local property developer Travis Cole (McDonald). Cole tricks them into destroying "his" apartment building, promising to pay them enough to save Pops. Afterwards, Cole reneges, revealing that he is not the owner; further, the grandmother of Mitch's new girlfriend Kathy (Howard) lives there. Unbeknownst to Cole, Mitch's "note to self" [2] tape recorder captures this confession.
Mitch and Sam plot their revenge on Cole, using the tape to set up an elaborate trap. Using skunks, an army of prostitutes, homeless men, a noseless friend, brownies with unsafe additives, and Sam's father, they ruin the opening night of an opera, sponsored prominently by Cole. With the media present, Mitch tries to play back the confession over the theater's sound system, but instead accidentally plays himself saying "note to self, get ass wart cream for giant wart on my ass". Nevertheless, Cole sees that his public image is being tarnished and agrees to pay the $50,000. In the end, Cole is punched in the stomach, arrested and jailed, his dog is raped by a skunk, and Mitch gets the girl. Dr. Farthing overcomes his gambling habit but is beaten to death by bookies.
[edit] Production and Release
Filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and at Wycliffe College there, the film was produced for an estimated $13 million[3]. American domestic gross was just over $10 million. No ads for the film were shown on NBC[1] until a week after the film's release.
MGM released a DVD of the film in August 1999.
[edit] Reception
The film received mostly negative critical reviews; a few positive reviews mentioned serious flaws while still mildly recommending it. The film has a 20% critic rating at Rotten Tomatoes, but a much higher user rating. It is rated with a 5.9/10 on the Internet Movie Database, where initial viewer reviews were uniformly negative, but as of 2007, the average of reviews is positive, with a divergence of opinion.
[edit] Trivia
- On the October 12, 2006 Howard Stern radio show, Bob Saget recounted stories from behind the scenes with Artie Lange, and Stern revealed that he turned down the role of Satan in the movie because he "just didn't get it."
- The Dirty Work business phone number is "555-0187," a fictitious number used later on Saturday Night Live.[4]
- In the scene where Mr. Hamilton(Rickles) berates Mitch and Sam at length, Rickles ad-libbed personal insults at Lange ("baby gorilla", seen in the film) and Macdonald ("How you got this movie, I'll never know", seen in outakes during the end credits).
- In Norm Macdonald's ABC sitcom Norm Lange guest-starred (and later joined the cast) as Norm's half-brother. Jack Warden also guest-starred once as father of Ian Gomez' character, and fakes a grab at Norm's crotch (as he did in Dirty Work)[5].
[edit] Availability
The movie is available on VHS, Laserdisc and DVD from MGM Home Entertainment.
[edit] References
- ^ a b The Norm Macdonald controversy
- ^ Macdonald used "Note to Self" (remedial reminders into a real or imagined pocket tape recorder) on Saturday Night Live Weekend Update segments.
- ^ Box Office Data - Dirty Work. the-numbers.com. Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
- ^ Sean (2000-02-12). Transcript of Erectile Dysfunction Ad SNL 25:12. snltranscripts.jt.org. Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
- ^ The Norm Show), Season 1, Episode 3, "Norm Dates Dannys Dad" 21:12
