Dirty Work (1998)

Credits / Details

71%
Overall Rating

Ranked #3,074
...out of 20,690 movies

Genres: Comedy Farce

Mitch and Sam have to come up with $50,000 and fast! The only problem is neither one can hold down a job. Mitch finds a way to money by exploiting the only talents the two have, by opening a "Revenge For Hire" business. --IMDb

Review by bluemeanie
Added: August 21, 2007

Take one of the raunchiest and most politically incorrect comedians in the world -- Bob Saget -- and throw him together with one of the most subtle and underrated comedians in the world -- Norm MacDonald -- and what do you get? "Dirty Work", of course. Released in 1998, this film has not really taken on the cult status it probably should have. It's leaps and bounds above the films being released by MacDonald's contemporaries at the time, and it is dripping with the same delivery and comedic style than made MacDonald such a popular SNL fixture. I don't really know why the film wasn't as successful as it should have been.

The film stars Norm MacDonald as Mitch Weaver. Mitch is not the greatest catch in the world, and along with his best friend Sam (Artie Lange), opens a revenge for hire business. Why? Because his dad (Jack Warden) needs an operation and Mitch wants to pay for it. Also figuring into the equation is Kathy (Traylor Howard), the girl that Mitch loves, who finds herself having to keep a relative from being forced out of her home. Mitch comes to the rescue, saves the day, and all's well that end's well. Christopher McDonald stars as Travis Cole, the villain of the film and Chevy Chase as Dr. Farthing, who has more than a tiny amount of gambling debt. Hell, even the great Don Rickles pops up for a few minutes of genius as the manager of a movie theatre.

How many quotable lines are there in this film? My favorite: "And that's the Saigon whore that bit my nose off!" That's right -- Chris Farley has a very hysterical role in the film as a barfly who came to odds with a Saigon whore a few years prior. And then there's the scene where Norm MacDonald plants all those dead hookers in the trunks of David Koechner's vehicles. There are so many quotes and scenes from this film, I can't possibly name them all. I love the homeless guy at the bank who just rambles on and on with his long and ridiculous stories. I love Chevy Chase and his gambling addiction. I love this entire film.

Check it out. It deserves to be re-discovered.

9/10.

#1: Edd - added August 21, 2007 at 7:41am
One of the greatest and most memorable and quotable comedies of all time.

#2: Tristan - added August 21, 2007 at 10:32am
[Insert Edd's comment here]

#3: Vash - added August 21, 2007 at 12:07pm
"dr farthing, what happened to your arm?"
"well, it could have been a number of things. sleeping on it wrong, or, perhaps, being thrown out of a moving car."

"are you a betting man?"
"yeah, sure."
"well if i was in your position, i'd put all my money... on death."
"couldn't you have prepared him a little for that?"
"i thought i did with that whole betting analogy."

"why is it that when your bookey, say, blows off one of your toes, you still owe him the money? it just doesn't seem fair to me."

everything chevy chase says in this movie is gold.

"we need to check his vital signs..."
"doc, if that stethoscope is as cold as it was yesterday, i'm shoving it right up your ass!"
"...vital signs normal."

#4: Tristan - added August 21, 2007 at 12:39pm
"Sam were you pissing off the side of the building?"

#5: grain of sand - added August 21, 2007 at 4:45pm
i've never seen so many dead hookers in my life

#6: Edd - added August 25, 2007 at 1:30pm
So I guess your my sister was really YOUR sister too!

Yeah, I guess so!

Remember when you had a crush on her in the fifth grade?

Yeah, and remember when I kissed her?

Uh-huh. And remember you had SEX with her in the 12th grade?

#7: QuietMan - added August 26, 2007 at 12:30pm
"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. Ridiculous!"

#8: Strait Killa - added August 27, 2007 at 8:20pm
watching this movie just makes me upset that norm never really got a solid career going. now all i have to look forward to is seeing him in bit parts in happy madison productions. lame

#9: Tristan - added September 15, 2007 at 1:52pm
"I have to go home and lift weights. What?"