Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

john-shannon-903-426510 The tile "Joe Dirt", and promotional material did not do this film justice.It really a fantastic back story. It almost epitomises the rags to richest lifestyle of the very rock bands that he liked AC/DC."Life is a garden" one of his catch cries, it is so true.When asked if he had wasted a decade looking for his parents, he really lived a life many of us would aspire to.That's what made it such a good story, and we went on the journey with him.I am now looking forward to watch the reboot Joe Dirt 2.

Gino Cox "Joe Dirt" offers a lot of laughs, which is the raison d'être of any comedy. And there are many different types of humor: sight gags, 1-2-3 punches, pratfalls, ridicule, absurdities, etc. Some of the humor is broad, raunchy, burlesque and low-brow, but other humor is fairly sophisticated. Some jokes are laugh-out-loud funny, while others are subtle. On a jokes per minute scale, the film ranks among the top. The film has significant and substantial problems. It is difficult to decide which is worse: the title, the cover/poster art, or log lines like "He came. He cleaned. He conquered," or "Trailer trash wig-wearin' acid wash jean lovin' rock concert T-shirt sportin' hero." None really describes a movie that I would have expected to find particularly interesting and I made no effort to view the movie until fourteen years after its theatrical release, although I can remember seeing it at video shops and had several opportunities when I was at a loss for something amusing to view. The film is somewhat a parody of "Forrest Gump," which is also a title that says little about the movie's subject matter, unless one is familiar with the book. But the FG producers were somewhat limited by the book's title, whereas the producers of JD could have been more imaginative and incorporated a superlative, an action verb or a recognizable archetype. The promotional artwork relied heavily on an image of a guy holding a mop. People who mop fill a necessary function, but they're usually relegated to after hours when they present less of a nuisance and distraction. In Bangkok, it's impossible to get through a day without encountering about a dozen people sweeping or mopping. Thais sweep and mop everything at all hours of the day and night and still leave their shoes at the entrance. But the reaction is usually to avoid the individual, not take an interest in what or why they are pushing broom. The promo lines fall somewhere between misleading and uninformative. Joe doesn't really conquer. Everybody loves jeans. The wig is a recurring gag that doesn't work or would be much more effective if the hair were natural. It's a bit gross and makes no sense that an adult would wear the same wig worn as a child. JD shines a mirror on the rest of society and holds us up to ridicule for our prejudices, assumptions and tendencies to judge others by superficial standards. These societal prejudices are personified by a radio shock jock played by Dennis Miller who delivers a series of zingers that seem less and less funny as the audience develops sympathy for Joe. Lampooning the audience is a risky form of humor and JD does it adroitly. The viewer is placed in the uncomfortable position of recognizing ones own biases. The movie offers quite a few talented actors in supporting roles that they embrace and play to the hilt. Production values are more than adequate with a refreshing lack of jiggly-cam shots. It's really nice to watch a movie where the filmmakers have enough respect for their audience to plan their shots and use tripods or other support systems for their cameras.

bonjovifan2000 Simply put, Joe Dirt is the white trash equivalent of Forrest Gump. Joe Dirt is not a sophisticated, Oscar worthy film like Forrest Gump, but it is still an entertaining film. The plot draws you into the story. Joe Dirt (David Spade) is a gentle, kind hearted white trash man who has had a tough life. His parents abandoned him during a vacation to the Grand Canyon when he was only eight years old. Joe has spent his life trying to find his parents and his home. One day while working as a janitor at a Los Angeles radio station, Joe finds himself retelling his painful life story to the sarcastic and sleazy DJ Zander Kelly (Dennis Miller). Zander Kelly and his audience quickly become fascinated by Joe's life story. Joe becomes a media sensation. Joe Dirt, like Forrest Gump, is an unlikely hero. Despite all the obstacles Joe has faced in his life, he remains positive and refuses to let go of the hope of finding his long lost family. Basically the story comes down to this: goods things happen to good people, or as Joe puts it "you can't have no in your heart!"David Spade wrote the film with his long time friend Fred Wolf (who did some stuff for SNL, Tommy Boy and Black Sheep). Spade and Wolf were clearly meticulous in their writing. There aren't any significant continuity or plot errors. Each scene builds upon the last and builds up for the next scene. There is a lot of low-grade humor in the film, but there's also lots of physical/slapstick humor--remember this is a film starring, produced and written by SNL alumni.There is something about the plot that gets you involved in the story. This is the type of film you can put in your DVD player and lose yourself in the story for an hour and a half or however long the movie lasts. Joe Dirt is a lovable character, it's easy to empathize with him. I think this is a testament to the way Spade and Wolf wrote the script and the way Spade portrays the Joe Dirt character. Either way, Spade and Wolf did an excellent job writing this script. Spade plays a different character for this movie. If you're looking for the sarcastic, acerbic Spade character, you won't find it in this film. This time, he plays the nice lovable guy. Dennis Miller has the more stereotypical Spade character. Spade said he wrote Miller's character and based it upon what he would say if Joe Dirt was sitting in front of him. Kid Rock also appears in the film, he was good and funny! Joe Dirt didn't get rave reviews from big name film critics (this was an Adam Sandler/Happy Madison production and we all know Sandler flicks don't go over too well with the critics). I think was a rather underrated comedy. Joe Dirt is definitely worth watching! The reason why I gave this film such a high rating was partially because of the writing, portrayal of the characters, and simply because I like David Spade and Adam Sandler.

Electrified_Voltage I remember during my high school years, which ended just a few years ago, there was a classroom in the school with several movie posters up on the wall for some reason, and one of them was a "Joe Dirt" poster. That was how I first knew of this 2001 comedy's existence, a couple years after its release, but it would be years before I would actually see it. "Weird Al" Yankovic's song, "Close but No Cigar" was released in 2006, on his "Straight Outta Lynwood" album. The song is sung at the point of view of a guy who has been through three romantic relationships, all of which ended when he found the slightest excuse to break up with each of these women, and he dumped one of them when he discovered she owned a copy of "Joe Dirt" on DVD. However, even that reference didn't make me really want to check the movie out right away. It's been nearly four years since the release of that song, and about seven and a half years since I first saw that poster, but I've finally seen the movie. I saw "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star", another comedy starring David Spade, earlier this year, and unlike that film, I did find some laughs in this one, but still didn't think it was very good.Joe Dirt is a hapless idiot who currently works as a janitor for a Los Angeles radio station and lives in a studio boiler room. Dirt is the surname his father gave him, and he cannot remember what his real surname was. His mullet is a wig that is stuck on his head, and the mullet haircut has long since gone out of style, but he can't get rid of his. Zander Kelly is a shock jock who has a show on this L.A. station, and Joe is sent in to talk on this show so people can laugh at his expense. On this radio show, Joe begins to tell his life story to Zander and all the listeners tuned in to the station, and viewers of the movie see it in flashback. When Joe was eight years old, he went on a tour of the Grand Canyon with his parents and was somehow separated from them. He hasn't seen his parents since losing them on that trip, and still doesn't know what happened to them. After being raised in several different strange foster homes, he came to the town of Silvertown, Idaho as a young man, where he met a young woman named Brandy and fell in love. Unfortunately, he also had to face a bully there named Robby, who was also intent on winning Brandy's heart, and did not appreciate Joe's presence. After Brandy's dog was shot and killed by her drunk father, Joe felt the need to leave Silvertown and search for his long lost parents. Even though Zander continues to make fun of him, Joe tells the story of his search for his parents and his adventures along the way.When it comes to the gags here, there certainly are some highlights, such as Joe Dirt finding out what the "meteor" he found actually is, and the lead character using what he thinks is an atomic bomb to scare the Grand Canyon tour bus company into giving him the list of passengers from the day he lost his parents. There were times when I laughed thoroughly and other times when I laughed very lightly or maybe just smiled. However, there are also some memorably unfunny parts, such as certain scenes showing Joe being bullied. These include more than one scene with Robby, played by musician Kid Rock, and also the way Zander Kelly, played by Dennis Miller, picks on Joe while on the air. I also found the part where Joe finds the dog with his testicles frozen to the porch a little uncomfortable, even if I didn't keep a straight face throughout that sequence. I didn't care much for the part where what Joe thinks is an atomic bomb turns out to be a septic tank and pours sewage all over him, though I did find the fact that the police didn't arrest him because they thought that was punishment enough fairly amusing. Other parts I didn't find very funny include the Buffalo Bob/skin lotion one and Joe getting food thrown at him in a school cafeteria. So, there are a number of funny parts in the movie, probably more than I originally expected, but there are also some fairly lame ones, and the humour is just mediocre for much of the film's ninety minute run. There were times when I felt like I would be giving this 2001 Happy Madison production a 6/10, but by the end, I decided I couldn't do that. Yes, there are some funny parts and likable characters, plus there certainly are fairly touching moments towards the end, but if they had done a much better job with the humour, "Joe Dirt" would have turned out to be a much more entertaining movie.