Joe Dirt

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.