Dirty Work (Film Review)

1998 MGM
Directed by: Bob Saget; Written by: Frank Sebastiano, Norm Macdonald, and Fred Wolf
Written by: Norm Macdonald, Jack Warden, Artie Lange, Traylor Howard, Don Rickles, Christopher McDonald, and Chevy Chase
MPAA Rating: PG-13; Running Time: 82 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

Mitch Weaver lives his life by the philosophy that there are two types of people in this world: those who get stomped on, and those who do the stomping. Unfortunately, that philosophy hasn't gotten him very far. Mitch's girlfriend has thrown him and all his stuff out on the street. He doesn't have a job. Now his best friend, Sam, who still lives with his father, Pops, needs his help. Looks like Pops needs a heart transplant, and if Mitch and Sam can raise $50,000, they can buy him a new one. Mitch has always been great at getting revenge on those who have wronged him. What if he got revenge on other people's behalf...for money? Can Mitch finally put his lifelong philosophy to profitable use?
On a straight, horizontal line, with dumb on the left side and smart on the right, the middle of the line is just average, run of the mill intelligence. However, if one were to fold that line in half, placing the smart end directly on top of the dumb end, they'd somehow have smart and dumb living together in perfect harmony, just like in 1998's Dirty Work. 
Norm MacDonald, as Mitch, essentially plays himself for 82 minutes, in a film based on a script he co-wrote, where every character talks like Norm MacDonald. Everything here is a best case scenario. Norm says the dumbest things that only a smart person could come up with, while Mitch's partner in crime, Artie Lange's Sam, says even dumber things that only a smart person could come up with. The duo have great comedic chemistry and every second they're on screen together is a joy. However, Dirty Work's side-characters bring just as much joy as the two leads. Chris Farley, in his last cinematic appearance, brings all the Farley manic energy his fans could want, along with all his sweetness, as an embittered, yet happy-go-lucky man who just can't quit the Saigon prostitute who once bit off his nose. Don Rickles appears as the worst boss in history, a movie theater owner who spends most of his time berating his employees in the way that only Don Rickles can. Rounding out the cast is a delightfully scuzzy Chevy Chase as the gambling addicted, debt riddled heart surgeon, a lovably sleazy Jack Warden as the ailing, yet always horny Pops, Christopher McDonald, as the kind of snobby, pretentious villain only he can play, and the always lovable Traylor Howard, playing a version of the flowers and sunshine love interest she often portrayed in the 90s, as she was just so incredibly great at doing so.
Dirty Work is a gift, featuring the best, most hilarious work by a handful of national comedic treasures who left the Earth too soon, and can never be replaced. It's the kind of good-natured bad taste that could only come out of the 90s, and it's one of the most definitive arguments for my 90s movies podcast's existence. I love it.