Every once in a blue moon, a really great comedy comes into the theaters that everyone is itching to see for a good laugh.
“Joe Dirt” is not that movie.
Perhaps it was because the comic highlight of the film was a dog’s scrotum frozen to a porch looking like gum being pulled apart every time the dog stood up.
Either way, this “white trash extravaganza” was anything but hilarious.
To say the least, no one should be overwhelmingly excited at the prospect of seeing another movie from the creators of “Big Daddy” and “Deuce Bigelow, Male Gigolo.”
Yet, when one walks into a theater to find people falling all over themselves for World Wrestling Federation paraphernalia, the diminished hopes one would have for a movie fall even further into oblivion.
For what the movie is trying to accomplish — drawing a market of people who not only understand Joe’s tragic life but appreciate his mullet as well — the script is well-written and full of trailer park humor.
Amazingly enough, as with “Big Daddy,” this movie does have a semblance of plot told by none other than the main character himself, Joe Dirt.
Joe Dirt (David Spade) is your average trailer trash, mullet-wearing hilljack without a family. Trying to find his parents is the plot of the entire movie, as told on Zander Kelly’s (Dennis Miller) radio talk show in Los Angeles, where Joe happens to be the station janitor.
His pathetic story is the highlight of Zander Kelly’s show for days as Joe tells him about being left by his parents in the Grand Canyon, only to wander for years, meeting people and doing weird jobs in small towns across the country to raise money to find them.
There are, however, some redeeming qualities about this movie.
For those who are Dennis Miller fans, “Joe Dirt” might be enjoyable. And since, at times, it seems as if Miller is moderating this movie with his quick one-liners, there’s enough here to give any fan their fill.
As with most Happy-Madison, Inc. productions, there is a host of cameos by “Saturday Night Live” cast members, including Kevin Nealon as a grease-covered mechanic willing to make a deal with Joe.
Other appearances include such notables as actor Christopher Walken and musician Kid Rock.
All in all, if “Deuce Bigelow” and “Big Daddy” are one’s definition of a good time, then repeat after Joe: “Life is a garden, dig it.”
