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The Movie:
Either you like David Spade or you hate him - there's really no in-between for the sarcastic comic. I have to say that I've always been firmly on the positive side, seeing his films and often tuning in for Spade's sitcom, which was just re-newed for another two years. After watching "Joe Dirt", I have to say though, that Spade should be pleased that his sitcom is going to continue because "Joe Dirt" isn't going to bring him any new success for his film career.
Spade plays Joe Dirt, a janitor who works at a local radio station and calls the boiler room home. One morning, he's brought into the main radio show on the sation, with the host played by none other than Dennis Miller, who proceeds to consistently make fun of the trashy, hilariously dressed young man sitting before him. Yet, when Joe tells the story of his search for his long lost parents (they left him at the Grand Canyon at the age of 8), the audience suddenly gathers around the radio to listen, fascinated. He's even asked back to continue the tale of Joe, as he goes across the country.
The main element of the film though, is Joe's relationship with Brandy(Britany Daniel) and the fighting with Robby (Kid Rock) over the girl. As Joe goes across country, he can't help but miss her (and with a girl who looks like her, who wouldn't miss her, geez.). But, anyways, this allows us to watch Joe have some other moderately funny adventures as he meets new friends such as an man who only sells sparklers at his roadside fireworks stand (Joe asks why he doesn't sell "the good stuff", as he rattles off a list of fireworks), a relationship with a girl who might be Joe's sister(Jamie Pressley) and a janitor(Christopher Walken, in a very funny performance) with a secret.
Anyways, with a movie like "Joe Dirt", the name of the game is whether or not the film is actually funny. With Spade's sarcasm-meter turned up to 11, much of the early part of the film does actually contain a few decent laughs. It's towards the end of the film where it actually tries to become emotional that it becomes embarassing. Spade isn't bad - he makes Dirt at least somewhat sympathetic as the character wants to succeed against all odds - but that doesn't mean that he's allowed to be all-out Spade as his nastiest, which is also Spade at his most hilarious (see the recent animated feature "Emperor's New Groove", which was Spade at his Spade-iest).
"Dirt" isn't unwatchable - it's one of those films that simply coasts along, and before you know it, it's over, not leaving much of anything memorable. The animated "New Groove" may be Spade's most entertaining screen performance yet - whether he'll ever find a solid live-action project of his own remains to be seen.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Joe Dirt" is presented in both 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and full_frame on this dual-layer DVD (either presentation is is accessible through the main menu). After seeing "Joe Dirt" in theaters, I wasn't expecting a visually remarkable presentation for this little comedy, but I was proved wrong by Tristar's stellar transfer - the film looked better here than it did when I saw it in the theater. Sharpness and detail are superb on this release, as the picture seemed consistently sharp and very well-defined.
In fact, the only flaw that I noticed was a tiny trace or two of edge enhancement, which was hardly noticable. The picture seemed almost entirely free of print flaws - one or two speckles appeared, but the film was free of anything beyond that. A couple of tiny traces of pixelation appeared, but were hardly even visible.
Colors were the element where the film suprised me most - colors seemed vibrant and richer on this presentation than they were when I remembered seeing the film theatrically. Colors appeared well-saturated and clean, with no instances of smearing or other problems visible. Overall, this is a very, very nice effort.
SOUND: "Joe Dirt" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. Although the comedy is noticably more active audio-wise than most offerings from the genre, I doubt anyone's going to be using the Spade movie as their new demo-disc. Surrounds are used more than I'd expected, providing some fine ambient sounds during the outdoor scenes, the music and also, the occasional sound effect (a dream sequence where an atom bomb explodes, a scene where a "meteor" hits the Earth nearby Joe). The classic guitar-driven rock that populates the soundtrack sounds suprisingly superb and is the real highlight of the audio presentation. Audio quality was better than expected, as the rock music came through with impressive clarity and presence and dialogue sounded clear and natural. For a comedy, "Joe Dirt" sounds great.
MENUS:: A very entertaining animated menu that opens with a clip at the Grand Canyon, then opens out into the amusing main menu.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: Praise to Columbia/Tristar for actually reeling in actor David Spade for a commentary track. Spade is low-key hilarity throughout the track, providing not much in the way of insight or information, but a lot of laughs. Spade does offer a few tidbits about the production, such as pointing out where elements were taken out of the scene for pacing reasons (or, in one instance, because the crew voted Spade shouldn't try and "act"). Not the funniest commentary I've ever heard, but Spade tries well and keeps the track going fairly well.
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Dennie Gordon. Gordon provides a good, basic tour of the production during her track. She also throws in some interesting tidbits (a shooting permit at the Grand Canyon costs 50k!) throughout the track. There are some pauses of silence throughout the commentary, but at least Gordon keeps to talking about how the film was made instead of simply discussing what's going on on-screen.
Trailers: Trailers for "Joe Dirt", "Tomcats", "Loser", "Can't Hardly Wait" and "Saving Silverman".
Also: Three deleted scenes with director's commentary and three minutes of very funny bloopers.
Final Thoughts: Although David Spade still hasn't reached "Tommy Boy" heights with "Joe Dirt", it still provides the occasional laugh. Although the film didn't really light up the box office, Columbia/Tristar has provided an unexpectedly packed special edition, with two entertaining commentary tracks and other features. Audio/video is also highly enjoyable. It's not for everyone, but Spade fans will at least want to take a look at "Joe Dirt" as a rental on this very well done DVD.
Film Grade
The Film **
DVD Grades
Video 91/A = (364/400 possible points)
Audio: 90/A- = (360/400 possible points)
Extras: 85/B = (255/300 possible points)
Menus: 85/B = (170/200 possible points)
Value: 84/B = (252/300 possible points)
TOTAL POINTS:1393/1600
DVD GRADE:B/87%
FILM GRADE: **
DVD GRADE: B
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