6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A loser finds success in the revenge-for-hire business.
Starring: Norm Macdonald, Jack Warden, Artie Lange, Traylor Howard, Don RicklesComedy | 100% |
Dark humor | 28% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.86:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
With the one-two punch of “Billy Madison” and “Happy Gilmore,” Adam Sandler created his own subgenre of dumb guy comedies, filled with absurdities, grotesqueries, and non-acting. Spreading the love, Sandler brought in comedian friends and “Saturday Night Live” co-stars to help populate the productions, even extending star vehicles to a chosen few. 1998’s “Dirty Work” was intended to bring big screen glory to star Norm Macdonald, fitting his specialized sense of humor for multiplex distribution, saddling the untamable comic with a plot that demanded a little more than expertly timed wisecracks. Audiences weren’t interested in Macdonald or “Dirty Work” during its initial theatrical release; The Sandler Effect didn’t come through. However, what’s here isn’t immediately dismissible, and while the feature contains all sorts of unpleasant material, it’s actually quite entertaining and periodically hilarious. It’s barely an effort from director Bob Saget, but the movie has its moments if expectations are brought down as low as humanly possible.
The AVC encoded image (1.86:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "Dirty Work" is mostly appealing, though filtering is present, diluting the filmic presence of the feature. Colors are the big draw here, offering explosive primaries that give the picture the look of children's television show, finding hues most powerful with costuming and paint jobs, while skintones are natural. Detail is intact overall with some degree of softeness, presenting welcome textures on facial particulars and prank destruction. Delineation encounters a modest amount of solidification from time to time, but this is brightly lit work, rarely staging shadowed encounters. Source offers speckling and occasional debris.
The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix takes care of the feature's straightforward execution, with emphasis on dialogue exchanges, which handle with ideal weight and separation, preserving comedic speeds and a comfortable range. Surrounds aren't a priority, but the track provides a few surges of excitement, a few taking full advantage of a circular soundscape, with panning effects and little details enjoyable. Scoring is supportive but unremarkable, sharing encouraging instrumentation with soundtrack selections, which add some low-end heft to the listening experience. Atmospherics are professional, great with group activity and hospital visits.
There's no way to recommend "Dirty Work" to just anyone. It's specialized entertainment for viewers with a relaxed sense of humor and an appreciation for Macdonald's delivery and love of the ludicrous. It's far from a perfect film, perhaps not even a good one (the production doesn't do itself any favors when crudely painting over the effort's R-rated intentions with dismal PG-13 jokes), but as candy-colored farces go, "Dirty Work" is relatively harmless entertainment that doesn't overstay its welcome (running a scant 77 minutes before end credits) and insists on heaping helpings of physical and weirdo comedy, doing whatever it can to please. The laugh percentage may not be there for everyone, but the picture never tires when it comes to sharing goofiness.
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