Joe Dirt

Joe Dirt is simply one of those underappreciated comedies. Having reacquainted myself with it recently (and repeatedly) after having not seen it in almost two years, I myself am beginning to realize that. Not only is it thoroughly funny, it is entertaining and fast paced. David Spade plays Joe Dirt, a kind, well meaning radio-station janitor with an unusual hairdo (mullet!) and extremely bad-luck. He shares his life-story with the listeners of the radio station, which mainly focuses around his never-ending search for his parents (who ditched him on a family trip to the Grand Canyon) and his unrecognized love for hometown hottie Brandy. Joe meets many unusual people along the way, has many misadventures, and as if you couldn't guess, sets himself up for many disgusting and painful situations. The humor is pretty low-brow, but who cares? The movie is funny and that's the bottom line. What I like about this movie is that I can just turn it on and let go. The movie is so well-made for a simple comedy. Spade wrote the script himself, and you can tell he took his time. Every event in the movie happens for a reason and alludes to something that will occur later down the road. Also, Joe Dirt is Spade's first likeable character. You actually feel for this doofus. Even though he looks like white-trash, he is still a good person. Which of course, leads to this movie's moral: Good things come to good people. Or as Joe would say "Life's a garden, dig it!" or "You can't have 'no' in your heart!" Christopher Walken has a hilarious bit as Dirt's co-janitor at an elementary school that has been placed in the witness protection program and Kid Rock plays Joe's bully perfectly (I love the part where he reads the note just like those guys in high school who couldn't read past 2nd grade reading level). But Spade is the real star here. Too bad this character/movie never took off. I seriously love this movie. It is consistently hilarious, has dozens of quoteable lines (stuff that you say to people in your daily routine) and has an overall feel good vibe to it. I don't know how anyone can trash this movie. For one thing, it's an Adam Sandler production, you know what type of humor you're in for. And secondly: The movie is called 'Joe Dirt!' There are no pretensions here, folks. I wish there were more movies like this out there. And although not everyone appreciates it, I am glad that I at least have this movie and can watch it a million times if I want to. Joe Dirt, you're my hero.

10/10

Forgive the title and you should find a warm, funny film that concerns an unfortunate yokel with a permanent mullet hairstyle (Spade) working as a cleaner at a radio station when a prominent DJ (Miller) sees the opportunity to exploit his pathetic story for the ratings of his drive-time programme. But the sorrowful tale earns a cult following as Dirt re-acquaints with his first romance (Daniel) and encounters an assortment of weirdos as he seeks to discover the disappearance of his parents when he was a child.

Although in some passages Spade is perhaps too smart for his own good, he still pulls off the likable but hopelessly pitiful Joe Dirt (or Deertay as he pronounces it), and his encounters with Christopher Walken as a former mob boss in the witness protection programme, Brian Thompson as a creepy Buffalo Bill serial killer a la "Silence of the Lambs", and future "My Name is Earl" trailer trash Jaime Pressly as a carney with whom he's sleeping and who might just be his sister (which prompts an hilarious scene).

There's a number of memorable moments as Joe gets pushed around by the thugs of this world, while his endearing personality reaches out and inspires the rest, a champion for the underdog, as they befriend and protect him from further embarrassment and humiliation. The ending is satisfying and overall the movie hits the right note, merging good humour with dollops of sympathy, sincerity and even a couple of moving moments. Not what you'd expect from the title and personnel and well worth a look.

As a young boy, Joe [David Spade] got seperated from his parents [Caroline Aaron and Fred Ward]. Ever since then he's spent his life on a journey to find them. On his journey he meets a nice girl named Brandy [Brittany Daniel], a Fireworks salesman named Kicking Wing [Adam Beach], and a friendly janitor named Clem [Christopher Walken]. David Spade is great in this hilarious adventure/comedy full of crude humor. It also has a fantastic soundtrack featuring classic songs from Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick, The Doobie Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eddie Money, Joe Walsh, and more!

Before I saw this movie, I was turned off by all the negative reviews and the fact that it was a SNL spinoff. But I bought a used tape from my video store. Instead of war coverage and serious drama, this has become a ray of hope. Make no mistake, it ain't winning any Oscars. But the slapstick is funny, has great co-stars like Joe Don Baker and Chris Walken. It has a good plotline, a search for his family. It's a lot of laughs and fun for plebes at heart. Serious, deep people will be offended, but when we try to make humor serious and deep, we're in trouble.

I braced myself for yet another film with low grade humour, plenty of bodily function jokes and not enough plot to go around.

Well, 'Joe Dirt' has all that and more... but surprisingly it turned out to be not half bad.

Perhaps the day of the preview caught me in a particularly good mood, because this story of a white trash loser searching for his parents who left him for dead at the Grand Canyon when he was eight was relatively enjoyable entertainment.

The movie is told primarily in flashback; Joe stumbles into the studio of a radio disc jockey who coaxes out of him his incredible life story. In the process Joe Dirt becomes a media darling as his story of woe and misfortune is heard by an ever sympathetic audience.

This is another movie which relies on the gross and disgusting to get its laughs; dogs balls stuck to the front porch, being covered in excrement, blowing up atom bombs, consumed by alligators and much much more!

The movie works for the most part because of David Spade's affable loser Joe Dirt. He plays a character that is not a 100 miles away from his 'Just Shoot Me' personna - a loveable idiot. He goes through life having all these setbacks - but he still maintains his positive outlook.

The movie does lag a bit at the three quarters mark, but this is a minor quibble for a film that does what is sets out to with a lot more style than its lamentable cousins.

A whole lotta fun

6 out of 10.