Review of Dirty Work (1998) by Kurt W — 06 Oct 2009

This was my second viewing of the film. I first saw it about year after it came out theatrically and enjoyed it quite much. The comedy holds up. Norm MacDonald has always been one of the most funny of all comedians and he easily shoulders the burden of this starring vehicle.

Artie Lange is adept as his sidekick and the two swap the role of straight man so well that they are almost interchangeable. I think that comedies are more heavily criticized than other film works. They don't seem to ever be taken seriously and are usually judged solely on the sense of humour of the reviewer, which, let's face it, is usually sorely lacking after years and years of film viewing.

When was the last time Roger Ebert looked like he actually enjoyed a film? He seems about as miserable in his job as I did when I worked the cash register at McDonald's. The Chris Farley scenes are memorable and reinforce the tragedy that he is no longer with us.

Norm's comedy styling is a combination of hand holding and ingratiation but you can't help but feel that if you were hanging with him you would be in on the joke. A great movie.