Cast:
David Spade...............Joe Dirt
Brittany Daniel...........Brandy
Dennis Miller.............Radio D.J.
Adam Beach................Kicking Wing
Christopher Walken........Clem
Jaime Pressly.............Jill
Kid Rock..................Robby
Erik Per Sullivan.........Little Joe Dirt
Megan Taylor Harvey.......Joe's Little Sister
Caroline Aaron............Joe's Mom
Fred Ward.................Joe's Dad
John Farley...............Security Guard
Bob Zany..................Man #1
Bean Miller...............Man #2
Fred Wolf.................Producer Fred
Directed by: Dennie Gordon Written by: David Spade and Fred
Wolf
Rated PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor, and language
Running Time: 1 hour, 33 minutes
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The Poster!
In
the new comedy "Joe Dirt", a slovenly janitor accidentally
stumbles into a Los Angeles radio talk show, gets invited
as a guest and begins telling his life story. His tale is
a sad one. At the age of eight, he was ditched by his parents
while vacationing at the Grand Canyon, and ever since he's
been stumbling around from state to state, performing odd
jobs and wondering why his mom and dad bolted. Soon all of
Los Angeles (and the nation) are captivated by his story.
The radio host conveys to Dirt his disbelief that someone
who so perfectly embodies a white-trash idiot can maintain
such a positive outlook on life and a potent tenacity to move
forward. At this point I'm thinking to myself: if this guy
really did have a positive outlook and potent tenacity, would
he really embody a white-trash idiot to perfection?
Obviously,
one can say I'm applying too much logic to a movie of this
sort. But my above observation sums up the film's problem;
the audience is expected to like the character of Joe Dirt,
yet the movie clearly doesn't. It's like if "Wayne's World"
was told through the eyes of Rob Lowe's villain. The movie
hates this guy, why should we cheer for him? At about the
midpoint, I did feel sorry for him, but that's not the same
thing.
Joe
Dirt is played by David Spade, who also co-wrote the screenplay.
His underdog persona and sardonic wit work fairly well on
NBC's "Just Shoot Me". His big screen forays haven't been
nearly as effective. The movie spends so much time putting
Dirt through a conveyor of condescending slapstick - everything
from dousing him in crap (real crap, that is) to being cruelly
laughed at and beaten up to even being tossed around by a
crocodile - then pulling a one-eighty and hoping to gain the
audience's sympathy. I'm all for sympathizing with a main
character, but you can't expect me to love him after going
to such lengths in humiliating him.
Consider
the aforementioned "Wayne's World". Both films are about quirky
and unusual characters, yet the respective tones sit at opposite
ends of the comic spectrum. Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar
- like Joe Dirt - are quirky and unusual outcasts who hold
their own view of the world they inhabit. But that movie clearly
loved Wayne and Garth. It was their world, and the story was
told from their unique perspectives. I think the filmmakers
here wer |