the audience applauded

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Back then, this was one of your standard SNL comedies with Norm's crazy style, which wasn't fully appreciated yet.These days, this film is incredible. Just imagine, no 3D, no CGI, none of the gimmicks, just a really really funny movie with all kinds of crazy stuff going on. I'd like to know the box office for this film today, and how many people bought it and appreciated it after the fact. IMDb's box office only covers theater release and this movie is almost 20 years old. Norm Macdonald was a man ahead of his time.***Spoilers***Just look at how Norm handled getting raped by three guys in prison. He sucked it up, pulled his pants back up, and lectured the rapists on the err of their ways. Ridiculous.This movie these days is so chock full of laughs it's ridiculous, just like those guys in that prison. If you've never seen it, or haven't seen it since it came out years ago, watch it again. It will blow your mind.

...not due to the content of the movie but because of the network guys who hated Norm for roasting OJ day in and day out on SNL during the trial....They ran ads a week after the release....The movie was edited to give it a PG-13 rating when it was not....It was adult comedy with rape jokes as Chevy Chase mentioned it would have been fantastic unedited....but now it has got 'cult ' status following....Moral of the story....Suck up to network guys ,lose your integrity and you make big bucks....Sandler case in point....I watched the movie then and I watch it from time to time and it always makes me laugh....even tho Norm says it openly that he hates acting....Norm Sports show was awesome but cancelled.....I hate talent-less network guys with zilch knowledge about comedy and comedians....Look at the drivel they churn out lately...

Dirty Work isn't so much a film as a competition for "how many filthy jokes can we incorporate in a seventy-six minute film?" That kind of thesis for a comedy is almost always lethal because we get no opportunities for humanity or genuine laughs since the film constantly feels the dreary obligation to one-up itself. Here's a film that is so perfunctory and foreseeable in its setups and deliveries that I'd be convinced if the screenwriter and the director thought of this film over a coffee break and decided to carry out everything right then and there.The film was directed by Bob Saget, who you'd know as the whitest, cleanest, and most supportive sitcom daddy in existence on the classic program Full House. Saget is famous for leading a life contradicting to his clean-persona on the show, often performing the filthiest, crassest standup you're likely to ever hear. For this reason, it is unsurprising his directorial effort plays much like his standup in terms of predictably raunchy material that lacks heart and craft.The film follows Mitch Weaver (Norm Macdonald) and Sam McKenna (Artie Lange), two lifelong buddies who have gone their entire lives exacting revenge on people for the smallest offenses. They stage elaborate attacks on the people they can't stand in order to gain a small sense of satisfaction. When Sam's father (Jack Warden) has a heart attack and is in need of a heart transplant, the guys learn the doctor can get the man immediate attention if they pay off the doctor (Chevy Chase) $50,000 so that he can pay off his enormous gambling debt.They decide to open a revenge business called "Dirty Work," which thrives off of people calling in and getting Mitch and Sam to exact revenge on people that make their callers tick. One of the reasons the film doesn't work is that the attacks are simple and, overall, underwhelming. With more intricate planning and craft, the payoffs for these offenses could've been rewarding and hilarious. Instead, they are childish and redundant.It also doesn't help that Mitch and Sam are two of the most archetypal, cliché protagonists in any comedy I've ever seen. They're so thin, wooden, and void of personality they feel like robots programmed to do and say things that are allegedly funny. Macdonald and Lange are average comedic talents, and here, they can't do too much with the script (which was somehow the product of three people) that forbids and character or development from sneaking past the abundance of clichés and predictable plot lines.Even so-called "late night comedies" and "stoner films" need to achieve some sort of quality and Dirty Work doesn't possess the characteristics of being memorable or creative enough to achieve them. It is an overly-silly, ridiculous film that gets even more ridiculous when it feels the need to allow plot lines like romance and fighting to elbow themselves into the picture. Saget may have craft when it comes to juggling personas, but he also shows that he has talent for making one of the most frustrating comedies of the nineties I have yet to see.Starring: Norm Macdonald, Artie Lange, Jack Warden, and Chevy Chase. Directed by: Bob Saget.

I actually have newfound respect for Bob Saget after seeing this movie (as well as his cameo in "Half-Baked" with the great line: "I've sucked dick for coke. Have you ever sucked dick for marijuana?!") This movie was obviously not made with the intention of racking up a bunch of awards, but we found it hilarious nonetheless. It has some great scenes in it, great lines (Mitch: "I've made up my mind, I'm going to tell Sam..." --Pops grabs him by the balls-- "...or NOT...AAAAHH!"), and if you like Norm MacDonald, you'll love this movie. It's full of his "note to self" one-liners as well as his general humor. The plot itself, although I found it to contain a lot of holes (which is why I say keep an open mind while you watch it), is quite funny. Highly recommended!