Written by Norm Macdonald, Frank Sebastiano, and Fred Wolf
Directed by Bob Saget
MGM Studios
I recently found myself rewatching this film, which starred The Late Norm MacDonald and was directed by The Late Bob Saget (and it also featured The Late Jack Warden and The Late Chris Farley). It was originally released theatrically in 1998, and I’ve always loved it.
MacDonald co-stars with Artie Lange as Mitch and Sam, a couple of lovable losers who’ve been best friends since they were little kids. Mitch never knew his father, so Sam’s father, “Pops,” took a hand in raising them, teaching both boys the motto of “never take crap from anyone.” They applied this philosophy in school, coming up with inventive ways to get revenge on their enemies, including a school bully, a creepy crossing guard, and even a neighborhood dog.
Now, as adults, Mitch lives with his girlfriend while struggling to make ends meet as a pizza delivery guy, and Sam lives with Pops, who’s still as tough as ever despite being confined to a wheelchair.
When Mitch gets fired from his job and kicked out by his girlfriend, he moves in with Sam and Pops. But soon after, Pops has a heart attack and ends up in the hospital, where he privately confides to Mitch that years ago he had sex with Mitch’s mother and is actually his father. Before Mitch can decide whether or not to tell Sam, they find out Pops needs a heart transplant to survive. The doctor (Chevy Chase) tells them that he can push Pops up on the waiting list if they pay him $50, 000, which it turns out he desperately needs to settle a huge gambling debt. The men come up with a plan to charge people to do other people’s “dirty work”, ie, get revenge on others for them, to raise the money they need.
They’re pretty successful initially, pulling off schemes like screwing over a mean theator-owner by ruining big film premier by switching out the real film for a gay porn movie and sabotaging a live commercial for a local usered car dealership by hiding a bunch hookers to pretend to get into their trunks of several cars and pretend to be dead.
Traylor Howard plays Kathy, a woman whom Mitch met at a bar and becomes interested in. She worked that car dealership, but her boss was an asshole, that’s why he staged the dead hooker scheme to impress her. But then Mitch and Sam get screwed over by a rich businessman named Travis Cole, played by Christopher MacDonald, who tricks them into destroy what he claims is a rundowned apartment building, which turns out to be inhabited by many tenants, including Kathy and her grandmother, so that he could buy the building cheaply and kick everyone out. This also lands Mitch and Sam in jail.
So now Mitch and Sam have to get out of jail, expose Travis Cole, and get the money to save Pops. Hilarity ensues.
This film is absurd but never quite crosses the line.
Well…maybe except for the scene where Mitch gets raped in prison. But at least that happens off-camera.
I know, rape is never funny.
But, come on, that was kinda funny…
Another funny scene that always stood out to me is when Pops reveals the truth about him and Mitch’s mother to Sam. Pops has a locket around his neck that, when opened, has a picture of him having sex with Mitch’s mother. He shows it to Sam, who is shocked and asks, “Pops, you cheated on mom?!?”
Pops replies, “No, she was there! Who do you think took the picture?”
Chris Farley’s small role is as an old friend of Mitch and Sam, who’s missing the tip of his nose, because years ago a hooker bit it off. Don Rickles is the mean theater owner, and Rebecca Romijn is an alcoholic bearded lady at a circus. The film is also chock-full of other celebrity cameos, from Adam Sandler to The Late Gary Coleman (damn, there’s a lot of now dead stars in this film).
However, the key to this film’s success is the chemistry between Norm and Artie. I’d already been a fan of Norm’s ever since he was on Saturday Night Live, but this was my first exposure to the work of Artie Lange, whose comedy I’d also later enjoy when he started working on the Howard Stern radio show a couple of years later. Norm and Artie play off each other well, like a classic comedy duo, with Norm’s deadpan delivery contrasting Artie’s bombastic personality. A year later, Norm would star in his own self-titled sitcom, which lasted 3 seasons, and in the second season, Artie was brought onto the show playing the brother of Norm’s character.
I heard that this movie was originally shot as R-rated, but the studio insisted it be cut to make it PG-13, and I have to say that I don’t think it’s missing anything. It’s funny enough as is.
Two Thumbs Up!
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