This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Nikkimaria (talk | contribs) at 02:32, 7 August 2011 (rm). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 02:32, 7 August 2011 by Nikkimaria (talk | contribs) (rm)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) 1998 Template:FilmUS film| Dirty Work | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Bob Saget |
| Written by | Frank Sebastiano Norm Macdonald Fred Wolf |
| Produced by | Robert Simonds |
| Starring | Norm Macdonald Artie Lange Jack Warden Traylor Howard Don Rickles Christopher McDonald Chevy Chase |
| Narrated by | Norm Macdonald |
| Cinematography | Arthur Albert |
| Edited by | George Folsey Jr. |
| Music by | Richard Gibbs |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date | June 12, 1998 |
| Running time | 81 minutes |
| Country | Template:FilmUS |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $13,000,000 |
| Box office | $10,023,282 |
Dirty Work is a 1998 comedy buddy film starring Norm Macdonald, Artie Lange, Jack Warden, and Traylor Howard. It was 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. It was the first feature film directed by Saget, coming one year after he left his long-running role as host of America's Funniest Home Videos.
The film received broadly negative reviews from critics, and earned low box office returns. However, it has since become a cult favorite, due partially to Artie Lange's later popularity on The Howard Stern Show where the film is sometimes mentioned, often in unflattering terms.
Plot
Growing up, friends Mitch Weaver (Norm Macdonald) and Sam McKenna (Artie Lange) are taught by Sam's hard-nosed dad Pops McKenna (Jack Warden) not to "take crap from anyone". To that end, the pair get a bully arrested by planting a gun on him, and catch a kid-fondling crossing guard in the act with glue.
In their adult lives, after losing 14 jobs in 3 months and getting dumped by his girlfriend, Mitch moves in with Sam and Pops, who then has a heart attack. In the hospital Pops confides that he is also Mitch's father, due to their parents' swinging lifestyle. Even though Pops' heart is failing, the gambling-addicted Dr. Farthing (Chevy Chase) will only raise his position on the transplant waiting list if he is paid $50,000 to save him from his bookie. Mitch and Sam get jobs in a cinema with an abusive manager (Don Rickles), and exact their revenge by showing "Men In Black (Who Like To Have Sex With Each Other)" to a packed house. The other workers congratulate them and suggest that they should go into business.
Mitch and Sam open "Dirty Work", a revenge-for-hire business. Mitch falls for a woman named Kathy (Traylor Howard) who works for a shady used car dealer (David Koechner). After publicly embarrassing the dealer during a live TV commercial, the duo exacts increasingly lucrative reprisals for satisfied customers until they interfere with unscrupulous local property developer Travis Cole (Christopher McDonald). Cole tricks them into destroying "his" apartment building (actually owned by Mr. John Kirkpatrick, the landlord), promising to pay them enough to save Pops. Afterwards, Cole reneges, revealing that he is not the owner, and that he had them vandalize the building so that he could buy it cheaply, evict the tenants (including Kathy's grandmother), and build a parking lot for his luxurious new opera house. Unknown to Cole, Mitch's "note to self" 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 (Chris Farley), brownies with hallucinogenic additives, and Pops, they ruin the opening night of Don Giovanni, an opera sponsored prominently by Cole. With the media present, Mitch plays back Cole's confession over the theater's sound system. 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 anyway.
Cast
- Norm Macdonald as Mitch Weaver
- Artie Lange as Sam McKenna, Mitch's friend
- Jack Warden as Pops McKenna, Sam's father
- Traylor Howard as Kathy, Mitch's love interest
- Don Rickles as Mr. Hamilton, an insulting theater owner
- Christopher McDonald as Travis Cole, corrupt real estate businessman
- Chevy Chase as Dr. Farthing, the gambling-addicted 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 as Anton Phillips
- 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 have collaborated frequently with Macdonald and Sandler.
Production and Release
Filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and at Wycliffe College there, the film was produced for an estimated $13 million. American domestic gross was just over $10 million. No ads for the film were shown on NBC until a week after the film's release.
During his first ever interview on The Howard Stern Show on September 18, 2008, co-star Chevy Chase discussed the film's production and release with Artie Lange. According to Chase, he was impressed by the original script's raunchy, R-rated, "over the top" tone (particularly a filmed but ultimately cut gag involving Macdonald and Lange delivering donuts that had been photographed around their genitals) and went so far as to beg Macdonald to not allow any changes. However, the studios insisted on a PG-13 rating and rescheduled the film's release from February to Summer, where it fared poorly against blockbusters like Godzilla.
MGM released a DVD of the film in August 1999.
Reception
The film received mostly negative critical reviews. It has a 17% critic rating at Rotten Tomatoes, averaged from 23 reviews. Despite the bad reviews the film is moderately popular among viewers, enough to earn a 66% rating from the Rotten Tomatoes community.
On co-star Artie Lange's stand-up comedy DVD, It's The Whiskey Talkin', an audience member asks him to sign his copy of Dirty Work, he does so and then gives the fan ten dollars, saying "you don't see Ben Affleck doing that for Gigli!" Lange then mentions that the review in his home town paper, The Star Ledger, said that he "had all the charm of a date rapist," to which MacDonald replied (in a sincere attempt to cheer him up) "that's a lot better than saying you have the charm of a regular rapist! A date rapist still has to get a date!"
Availability
The film has been made available on VHS, Laserdisc and DVD from MGM Home Entertainment.
References
- 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 2007-02-02.
- Dirty Work. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- Lange, Artie (2004). It's the Whiskey Talkin' (DVD). Tempe Improv (Arizona): Image Entertainment. Event occurs at 22:18. ASIN: B0006ZXTRK.
External links
- "Dirty Work at MGM.com". MGM. Retrieved Dec. 23, 2009.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - Template:Allrovi movie
- Dirty Work at IMDb
- Dirty Work at Rotten Tomatoes