Movie Info
Movie Name: Joe Dirt
Studio: Happy Madison Productions
Genre(s): Comedy
Release Date(s): April 11, 2001
MPAA Rating: PG-13
This chew is certified Joe!
Joe Dirt (David Spade) finally gets to tell his story. Radio DJ Zander Kelly (Dennis Miller) has given Joe Dirt free rein to tell his story. Joe reveals how he was left at the Grand Canyon as a child and how his life was shaped in his search for his parents. Joe tells about his friend Brandy (Brittany Daniel) and his rival Robby (Kid Rock) and how an adventure across country allows him to find his real self.
Directed by Dennie Gordon, Joe Dirt is comedy in the vein of Blue Collar Comedy Tour that was popular in the early 2000s. Released to negative reviews, the movie performed decently at the box office but did gain a cult following.
Maybe this is why Mulder & Skully never found the shapeshifting alien…
I was not a fan of the blue collar comedy trend and to watch a movie parodying the idea seemed like kind of a waste (since it already seemed to be a parody in itself). The movie has some laughs, but it isn’t quite up to the level of a good comedy.
The comedy is set up as an adventure comedy which has Joe travelling the country. The comedy is rather predictable, but it does have bright moments including the best part with Joe’s stop in Indiana and a parody of Silence of the Lambs with Joe trapped by a Buffalo Bob (which does become a recurring joke in the movie).
David Spade has mastered the sarcastic humor. Whether you like that or not is definitely a matter of taste. Here, Spade simply added a white trash element to his sarcasm. The movie has small roles by Christopher Walken, Jaime Pressly, Rosanna Arquette, Joe Don Baker, Fred Ward, Richard Riehle, Carson Daly, Brian Thompson, Kevin Nealon, and Kid Rock in an acting role.
I got the poo on me!
The movie is a low budget film aimed at getting high profits. As a result, it isn’t the best looking picture, but it also doesn’t really need to be. Sometimes the movie plays with the cheap nature of itself and that is probably what it needed to do. I actually wish that the movie had pushed it farther in that sense or gone for the gross-out R-Rated comedy style.
Joe Dirt isn’t a good film but it has some laughs and a short running time. This means it is a tolerable film. Some of the jokes are hits but most are misses and that can make it frustrating as a viewer who wants a laugh-out-loud comedy that keeps you rolling. Joe Dirt’s modest success did lead to a sequel…fourteen years later. Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser premiered streaming on Crackle in 2015.
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