Review of Dirty Deeds (2005) by Timothy S — 30 Dec 2011

At the core of "Dirty Deeds" is a likable, good-hearted teen comedy with some young, appealing actors and decent writing. But, in the day of "unrated" being splashed across every other DVD, stuff like "good-hearted" just doesn't get the job done anymore so the screenwriters spiced this up with a lot of unnecessarily gross-out moments. There was just no reason for any of that here.

This could have been more of an innocent romp like "Trojan War", but I guess that's not the kind of film that this was meant to be. It just feels tired and familiar. The film's most disturbing, "funniest" raunchy moment is a shameless and embarrassing homage to the original "American Pie". It's just not something that we needed to see again so soon. Or ever.

Milo Ventimiglia is a very appealing young actor and has the potential to break out into bigger and better things, and co-star Lacey Chabert has been a favorite of mine for years. Not only is she completely hot but she also has a lot of understated, underplayed charisma. Yes, she's a pretty face but she also can be a lot more in the right role. Both her and Ventimiglia deserve a better picture than this wannabe that consistently disappoints. In this case, less definitely would have been more.

The premise has potential, and director David Kendall could have taken his film in a lot of different directions. Unfortunately, the climate of today's teen films dictate that gross-out humor sells. "Dirty Deeds" is the price we all have to pay for popular culture, and like all things, you take the good with the bad.