Men At Work
There are times when you go into a movie comedy expecting to see the advertised stars doing their thing only to watch them be completely upstaged by one (or more) cast members who not only nail their roles to a tee, but also take it above and beyond what anybody was expecting to a whole new and unexpected level. There are different ways to explain how such a thing could happen such as what happened on the set of Caddyshack when Dangerfield led both Chase and Murray to literally adlib and improv an entirely new movie right in front of the cameras, turning what were intended to be mere cameos into starring roles that left the original coming of age comedy / drama script about the antics of the young caddies completely in the dust. Or sometimes it can be a case where a talented actor when given next to nothing to work with in the original script brings some kind of a whacked out angle to it that somehow not only makes it work, but it also becomes the most memorable performance in the movie by far. A great case in point is this 1990 comedy that would seem to be a complete throwaway artistically if not for it being written by, directed by and starring Emilio Estevez, a guy known for acting in a lot of great movies (including The Breakfast Club) and yet still remains incredibly underrated today at least in comparison to the much more publicized antics of his younger brother, the ubiquitous Charlie Sheen. In fact, what makes this film so notable to many besides being some sort of a passion project for Estevez is that it remains the only film that saw the two brothers starring together in a goofy comedy where they play two garbagemen along with being best friends and roommates (but are NOT related). The early moments of the movie do a fine job of portraying the free spirited, devil may care attitude of two garbagemen working in a small beach town, with Estevez starting the movie by waking up on the beach next to a random, beautiful girl while Sheen (who has just broken up with his girlfriend) is engaging in his favorite activity prior to going into work, which is spying on his various neighbors with binoculars and occasionally pointing and aiming at them with his air rifle (which looks real). The carefree nature of the whole enterprise continues as we follow these fringe figures of society through their typical day and meet their rival garbagemen whom they enjoy playing pranks on as well as a couple of asshole beach cops on bicycles who seem to get their kicks from harassing them for no other reason other than the fact that they are garbagemen (something that I’m sure happens all the time in real life). We also meet their boss (the awesomely underrated character actor Sy Richardson) who calls them into his office in much the same way a movie police captain would call two rebellious action heroes onto the carpet and tells them that after all the complaints of them violating various city ordinances, from now on they will have assigned on their garbage truck a so called “third party”, an observer who will watch their every move and then report back to him. They’re also told that this observer happens to be their boss’ brother in law. The next day Estevez and Sheen meet their new partner and that is also when we meet the real star of the movie in the legendary Keith David as Louis Fedders, saddled with the gimmick of being a crazed Vietnam vet but really any explanation could have been used to explain him being a far crazier and more dangerous lunatic than either Sheen, Estevez or anybody else in the movie for that matter, so much so that he basically takes over the story itself, driving the entire narrative with The Estevez Brothers only along for the ride. The premise involves them finding a can of garbage that contains none other than a dead body (a politician connected to a hot woman whom Sheen spies on from time to time) and while Sheen and Estevez argue over what to do with it (Estevez wants to call the cops whereas Sheen is worried about being a suspect because he had earlier prankishly shot the politician in the ass with his air rifle), David takes it upon himself to tell them that what they’re going to do is get to the bottom of this on their own with no help from the cops. For some reason, in order to do this, David decides that they’re going to keep the body in their possession at all times, but whereas that idea in Weekend At Bernies worked because the heroes in that movie needed to give off the impression that the dead Bernie was alive at all times mostly because their own lives were in danger otherwise, here there is absolutely NO reason to keep the dead guy at their side at all times which is exactly why it is so absurdly funny. Indeed, David’s methods of thinking are so warped that he literally seems to rewrite the very rules of conduct that he’s supposed to be enforcing! And with the usual laid back yet intense nature that Keith David is known for (especially in action and dramatic roles), watching him play a flipped out lunatic who casually engages in kidnapping (of a pizza delivery guy whom he decides has “seen too much”) and police standoffs using Sheen’s BB gun (which the cops believe to be real since David actually seems that crazy) leaves us in hilarious awe much in the same way that Sheen and Estevez can’t believe that they’ve met up with this maniac who seems much more dangerous to them than the actual villains of the film (including the always bickering hitmen who killed the politician in the first place and literally drive around in a car that has the vanity licence plate “HIT MEN” on it). But at least Estevez is smart enough as a director to know that if Keith David is going to go all out playing a completely crazed yet funny character (Estevez and Sheen are literally going along with his nutzo way of handling things in order to stay on good terms with their boss), then you must keep all of the characters on a similar wavelength, thankfully making the bad guys (led by John Getz as a sneering corporate boss who specializes in dumping toxic waste into the ocean, something the murdered politician was planning to blow the whistle on) into comic relief idiots who are rather banal about their own evil activities. Also, the whole entire voyeur / spying angle not only evokes indirect shades of Rear Window but also very direct references to Stakeout (a movie which Estevez had actually STARRED in back in 1987) as this movie shows his character being put in the exact same position as he was in the older movie as he winds up watching Sheen infiltrating the hot girl’s apartment across the way and even looks on as Sheen makes several sarcastic gestures towards where he’s watching from (much like Dreyfuss did in Stakeout) all the way to the point where Sheen decides that he’s in love with the actual girl (Leslie Hope) whom they’re spying on (who was working as a campaign aide for the murdered politician and is also being targeted by the two hitmen who constantly argue between themselves like an old married couple). Of course, in this case Estevez now has the crazed David hovering over him constantly with the dead body still needlessly at their side and the tied up pizza guy still being held hostage for no other reason than David says so and when they all go mobile (because the girl decides to be spontaneous and suddenly take Sheen to the beach with her at night and they know that they have to stay close), both Pizza Guy Hostage (Dean Cameron) and Dead Body (now wearing a Richard Nixon mask to conceal his look of horror from being killed) are also brought along for the ride in what is not only needless, but incredibly risky for along with the hitmen, we also have the aforementioned work rivals (forever looking to avenge the various pranks pulled on them in another direct nod to Stakeout with the last one being a shit bomb that went off in their locker) as well as the asshole cops who were strangely getting off on harassing Sheen and Estevez although David teaches them a lesson. The finale again serves as an innocent paean to the idea of taking down the main bad guy (Getz) through justified humiliation rather than killing him outright but maybe that’s all that Estevez was trying for here, a breezy and disposable (pun intended) comedy about guys who don’t give a shit bringing down the type of people who do just that a little bit too much, with The Brothers Sheen not teaming up onscreen ever again (except for Charlie’s cameo in Loaded Weapon) and Keith David never quite being allowed to shine like this ever again also…
8/10