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Original title: Dirty Work

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

32K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:22

Dark Comedy Slapstick Comedy

A loser finds success in the revenge-for-hire business.A loser finds success in the revenge-for-hire business.A loser finds success in the revenge-for-hire business.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

32K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

4,443

376

See production info at IMDbPro

Featured reviews

6BlazingBolt

This movie is dumb. Don't get me wrong. The plot and premise are awful but this movie is amazingly funny. Norm Macdonald delivers a great performance only he could. His comedy is sometimes too edgy for some but he believed nothing was off limits and he never backed down! I thought he was an amazing comedian someone the likes of George Carlin. You'll be missed Norm. Rest in piece!

Eric-1226

One of my favorite "dumb" comedies

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.

squir1y

Norm is hilarious and so is this movie.

I've always been a big fan of Norm MacDonald and so when I heard about this movie I was happy to see he had his own movie, but I was a little pessimistic because there hadn't been one good SNL alumni movie since Wayne's World. But when I saw it I wasn't disappointed.

Mitch (MacDonald) is a loser who just lost his job, his girlfriend, just learned his best friend's father is also his and he takes crap from everybody. So when him and his best friend Sam (Artie Lange) look for jobs they discover their calling: to open a revenge for hire business. Their business turns out to be successful until a greedy rich guy wants revenge for a prank they played on him.

Norm was hilarious. I like how straightforward he is with his lines("Settle down prostitutes!";"Hey, homeless guys!"). Artie Lange and Jack Warden were also very funny. Chris Farley and Adam Sandler make funny appearances too. The dead hooker in the trunk and the gay dog gags were priceless.

Ignore the critics. Check this out. 9/10

8nytol1-798-466578

They don't make them like this anymore.

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 😎

7FiendishDramaturgy

Beautiful introduction to Norm Macdonald's talents

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 :.

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Artie Lange was wary of working with Chevy Chase after having heard many stories from friends and colleagues about Chase's nastiness, but in his book "Too Fat to Fish", Lange recounted that he loved working with Chase and they became good friends. Lange also recounted that Chase warned him that MGM would force them to make the film PG-13 rated for release even though it was written and filmed as an R-rated film, and told him to fight that move. Lange, Norm MacDonald, and the rest of the cast and crew did fight for the R, but the studio ultimately refused because they said that there was not a large audience for R-rated comedies at that point; as Lange sadly noted in his book, "Dirty Work" was ultimately moved to an earlier release date in part to stay clear of Mary à tout prix (1998), which was not only an R-rated comedy, but became one of 1998's biggest blockbusters and revived the entire R-rated comedy genre for years to come.

Goofs
When Mitch and Sam leave jail and Mitch addresses his cell mates, his lips can clearly be seen to say "anal rape," but this is overdubbed with the words "the other thing."

Quotes
Mitch: [to men who just raped him] You fellas have a lot of growing up to do, I'll tell you that. Ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. Can you believe these characters? Way out of line. Way out of line. Have a good mind to go to the warden about this. You know what hurts the most is the... the lack of respect. You know? That's what hurts the most. Except for the... Except for the other thing. That hurts the most. But the lack of respect hurts the second most.

Crazy credits
Funny outtakes from the filming play during the first half of the credits.

Alternate versions
The "Dirtier Cut" was assembled from the original film negative found in the MGM vaults by archivist Oscar Becher and restoration expert Kurtis Spieler using a workprint tape as reference. It was released by Vinegar Syndrome in 2025 on Blu-ray and 4K. This was original cut of the film (intended for an R-rating) before it was edited down to achieve a PG-13 rating. Although the runtime is only longer two minutes than the theatrical cut, there are more than 7 minutes of alternate footage between the two versions. The PG-13 cut substituted tamer versions of the same jokes or replaced footage with alternate content.
The bearded lady only appears in the theatrical version.
Near the beginning when Mitch is reminiscing about his younger years, a high school aged Mitch parks in one of the football players spots, gets confronted and both him and Sam get thrown in a dumpster. Later, several members of the football team finds a box of donuts on the hood of one of their cars and they begin to eat them. As they're eating them, one of them finds a Polaroid at the bottom of the box of Mitch and Sam naked with the donuts stacked on their erect genitals. The football players as well as the cheerleaders spit these donuts out, except for one cheerleader who keeps staring at the Polaroid.
When Pops is watching a lesbian porn film (only heard, not seen), Pops silences Mitch and Sam by exclaiming, "Pipe down! I'm tryin' to watch these broads dyke-out!". In the PG-13 version, the porn film is replaced by an Aerobicise (1980) video with Pops' remark instead being dubbed to "I'm tryin' to watch these broads work out!"
A scene where Pops brags about having worked as "a stunt cock in stag films".
Mitch and Sam work as a gay phone sex operators during their job hunts to make quick cash.
In the jail cell, Mitch tells Sam he's scared of "anal rape" in prison, instead of whispering something unknown into Sam's ear. Before the two of them are released from jail, Mitch eventually says the line "except for the anal rape", which was dubbed over as "except for the other thing" in the theatrical cut.
The "blow up doll" and "ass cream" notes-to-self were different in the R-rated cut. They were, "Note to self: Find out if other guy's penises are the same length erect as they are flaccid" and "Note to self: Shitting pants is unpleasant, even with adult diaper."
Towards the end of the movie, the fraternity that kept bullying Mitch and Sam are seen eating donuts. The same prank from the beginning of the film involving the football team and cheerleaders is done here, except with a present day Mitch and Sam in the Polaroid.

Connections
Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Movie Pranks (2014)

Soundtracks
Semi-Charmed Life
Written by Stephan Jenkins (as Stephen Jenkins)
Performed by Third Eye Blind
Courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group
By arrangement with Warner Special Products