Dirty Work - Agenzia lavori sporchi

None of the three young stars of this film - Norm MacDonald, Artie Lange or Traylor Howard - ever became movie stars but they combined to make this a funny film, albeit what I call a lame-brain (somewhat low-class but effective humor) one.

This is not an untypical comedy of today: tons of sleazy jokes, sightgags, a lightweight romance story, a generally stupid story and a happy ending.....yet this one was far more appealing than most I've seen. Although the language could be worse, why this isn't rated "R" is beyond me. It is not for teens but I'll bet many of them watched and enjoyed this, as well as older people like me.

MacDonald is a very likable guy in the lead. He just has a friendly face and demeanor about him. He makes the film. Lange was a bit loud. I'm glad the film wasn't longer because Lange's constant shouting begins to become grating. As for Traylor, she acted well and was a pretty face. After watching this twice, I wondered why she never made it, but at least she has now found TV fame as the new partner of the hit TV series, "Monk."

Two veterans actors in here - Jack Warden and Chevy Chase - play irreverent sleazy roles, something they certainly have done before.....and do well. Warden is brutal as the ultimate dirty old man and Chase is as smug as always. Don Rickles makes a short appearances as his normal obnoxious character and John Goodman makes a cameo near the end.

The main story of this movie is a familiar one: revenge, but this time it is played strictly for laughs, and there are plenty. The movie shows revenge isn't just sweet, it can funny. What can you say? The movie is crude, it's sentimental, and it's a fun 82 minutes.

Most casual movie-goers do not appreciate the dry, sarcastic wit of Norm Macdonald. Many do not understand that his blunt, sometimes bombastic delivery is his trademark comedic style. While I would never call his style, "genius," he is certainly a master entertainer, in his own right. This style of his is an acquired taste. If you've managed to live your life without becoming the least bit jaded or cynical of anything, you may not understand Mr. Mcdonald's talent for humor. His coloring of even the most innocent scene with a dark innuendo or low-brow blurb is just so outrageous that we have no choice but to laugh. But those who do not understand, will find him abrasive or crass. It's true; he IS abrasive and crass, and in the most unfortunate situations he lets loose his abrasively crass innuendos and utters the most outrageous statements as facts only to correct himself by posing it as a question after he's already blurted out the first silly, obnoxious thing which comes to his mind. All this is assembled together with his honest expressions, common-everyday-Joe appearance, and expert comedic timing. Packaged within unlikely settings and a professional production, Norm Macdonald's comedic style is in the perfect element.

Dirty Work enlists the largest range of Norm Macdonald's skills of any one work I have seen. It is virtually a showcase for his talent. Unfortunately, it is commonly viewed as "mindless, low-brow, Hollywood fluff" and will therefore never receive the full appreciation of the audiences it deserves. The casual movie-goer will not be "in" on some of his one-liners, and the hard core comedic fans will be too busy critiquing his innovative comedic style to appreciate it.

This work involves Chevy Chase as an unscrupulous in-debt gambler who is willing to help our star out of his latest pickle in exchange for a load of money. I was a tad disappointed with Chevy's role in this vehicle. It could have afforded Mr. Chase's legendary talents a bit more respect by way of screen time. I found his talents were sorely under used although the drivers were pistoned after his specific flair. I did not quite agree with this decision.

All in all, this is a beautiful introduction to Norm Macdonald's talents and I highly suggest its viewing.

It rates a 7.3/10 from...

the Fiend :.

Now that he's gone and we can look back on all his life's work, it feels weird that this was Norm's one and only "big" movie.

When it came out I remember laughing so hard at it. I rented the video a few times just to watch Norm's "Ridiculous" monologue, and every other line he delivered in it. I had high hopes that it would be the first of many Norm movies to come because despite its flaws, this was an extremely funny movie.

But it wasn't to be.

It was easily one of the best comedy films of the mid to late 90s, yet for some reason it wasn't the box office success that There's Something About Mary and others were. It deserved to be, solely based on Norm's performance in it, but it just didn't turn in the big bucks.

Which is sad. This was one of the best films by a SNL alumnus ever made. Just compare this movie and the laughs it generates to what his contemporaries were doing. Adam Sandler, who makes a cameo in this movie, never came close to making a movie this funny. Yet for some reason Hollywood kept churning out god awful Sandler garbage year after year. Chris Farley, who also makes a cameo in this movie and unlike Sandler was talented and funny, also never made a movie this good (though unlike Sandler he turned in some decent ones). Rob Schneider, David Spade - the list goes on. None of them made a movie anywhere near this funny.

Maybe it is a hidden blessing that this was Norm's one big movie. Norm MacDonald in 1998 was a comedian at the top of his game. This was the same Norm who just the year before went on Conan O'Brien and hijacked Courtney Thourne-Smith's appearance to single handedly create the most hilarious seven minutes in late night talk show history. Late 1990s Norm was one of the funniest comedians in history.

But having achieved such brilliant heights he had nowhere to go but down. He never crashed and was always funny (his moth joke on Conan in 2009 is deadly funny), but in later years his stand up and also his appearances on the late night circuit weren't quite able to capture that same lightening in the bottle he had in the 90s. His only other major movie appearance after this was in Screwed a couple of years later. Which was not good and we should all forget about its existence. After that he basically just did a few voice performances and cameos in movies.

Dirty Work though is what he has left us, and it is a movie that is still worth watching after all these years. Because of Norm's timeless talent for getting laughs, which he uses to full effect throughout the film.

So if you've ever seen a clip of Norm being funny and want to see more, preferable in movie form, you can't go wrong with this one.

I only discovered Norm a few days ago, I'm not sure he's really known in the UK?

But in that time I've watched a lot of the old clips on YouTube and think he's brilliant.

An intelligent comic, who's genuinely funny.

This film had several laugh out loud moments.

Yes it is silly and pointless, but not everything needs to have a point 😎

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.