1998's Dirty Work wasn't a hit with critics and it didn't perform well at the box-office. However, if you're like me and a fan of Norm Macdonald's brand of comedy then it's a pretty enjoyable movie.
Directed by Bob Saget, and starring Norm Macdonald and Artie Lange, the movie is about two long-time friends, Mitch and Sam (who later find out that they're actually brothers) that need to come up with $50,000 to pay for their father's heart transplant. So, they start a revenge-for-hire business called "Dirty Work". There doesn't seem to be a shortage of people willing to hire the two, but not for a substantial enough amount of money to save their father's life. That is until they are offered $50,000 by land developer Travis Cole (played by Christopher McDonald) to wreck an apartment building so that all the tenets will move out and he can bulldoze it. Of course, this is a trick and Cole has no intention of paying them. After being stiffed for the money, Mitch and Sam plot their elaborate revenge which will not only net them the cash Cole owes them but, will also land him in jail.
It's a pretty straight forward plot and it's just barely enough to keep the string of gags held together but, I think it works. In addition to Macdonald and Lange, the film also features Chevy Chase as a gambling-addicted heart surgeon, cameos by Don Rickles, John Goodman, Rebecca Romijn, and Adam Sandler, as well as Chris Farley in his last film role. This obviously isn't going to be a comedy that resonates with everyone but I really do think it has quite a few funny moments throughout.
3 out of 5.
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