Joe Dirt (2001)

After being abandoned by his parents at the Grand Canyon, Joe Dirt tells the story of his journey to find his parents.

Director:

Dennie Gordon

Writers:

David Spade, Fred Wolf

Stars:

David Spade, Brittany Daniel, Dennis Miller

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Spade	...	Joe Dirt
Brittany Daniel	...	Brandy
Dennis Miller	...	Zander Kelly
Adam Beach	...	Kicking Wing
Christopher Walken	...	Clem
Jaime Pressly	...	Jill
Kid Rock	...	Robby
Erik Per Sullivan	...	Little Joe Dirt
Megan Taylor Harvey	...	Joe's Little Sister
Caroline Aaron	...	Joe's Mom
Fred Ward	...	Joe's Dad
John Farley	...	Security Guard
Bob Zany	...	Man
Bean Miller	...	Man
Lee Walker	...	Zeke

Storyline

Joe Dirt is a janitor with a mullet hairdo, acid-washed jeans and a dream to find the parents that he lost at the Grand Canyon when he was a belligerent, trailer park-raised eight-year-old. Now, blasting Van Halen in his jacked-up economy car, the irrepressibly optimistic Joe hits the road alone in search of his folks. As his wandering, misguided search takes him from one hilarious misadventure to another, Joe finds his way to Los Angeles, where a shock-jock brings Joe on his radio show to insult him. But as Joe's life story unfolds, jeers turn to cheers, and an entire captivated city tunes in to hear the adventures of Joe Dirt.

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Plot Keywords:

public nudity | psychopath | mini skirt | blonde | mullet haircut | 

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Taglines:

Trailer Trash - Wig Wearin' - Acid Wash - Jean Lovin' - Rock Concert - T-Shirt Sportin' - Hero

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor, and for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 April 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Adventures of Joe Dirt

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$17,700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,016,008, 15 April 2001, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$27,087,695, 3 June 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation,Happy Madison Productions,Robert Simonds Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Each time Robby (Kid Rock) gets dust in Joe's face with his car, the song "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" is playing. This happens three times.

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Goofs

The car he bought from the old woman he calls a Road Runner. Its actually a GTX, a 1967. Road Runners came out in 1968, and look nothing like a 67 GTX.

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Quotes

Zander Kelly: God Almighty, from inbred heaven? Hey freak boy, 1976 called. It wants its hairstyle back.

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Alternate Versions

The DVD contains several Deleted scenes including Joe shopping for Eight Trax, and Joe getting heckled about his encounter with Buffalo Bob.

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Connections

Spoofs The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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Soundtracks

I Just Want to Make Love to You
Written by Willie Dixon
Performed by Foghat
Courtesy of Bearsville Records
By Arrangement with Rhino Entertainment Company and Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Surprisingly enjoyable

I braced myself for yet another film with low grade humour, plenty of bodily function jokes and not enough plot to go around.

Well, 'Joe Dirt' has all that and more... but surprisingly it turned out to be not half bad.

Perhaps the day of the preview caught me in a particularly good mood, because this story of a white trash loser searching for his parents who left him for dead at the Grand Canyon when he was eight was relatively enjoyable entertainment.

The movie is told primarily in flashback; Joe stumbles into the studio of a radio disc jockey who coaxes out of him his incredible life story. In the process Joe Dirt becomes a media darling as his story of woe and misfortune is heard by an ever sympathetic audience.

This is another movie which relies on the gross and disgusting to get its laughs; dogs balls stuck to the front porch, being covered in excrement, blowing up atom bombs, consumed by alligators and much much more!

The movie works for the most part because of David Spade's affable loser Joe Dirt. He plays a character that is not a 100 miles away from his 'Just Shoot Me' personna - a loveable idiot. He goes through life having all these setbacks - but he still maintains his positive outlook.

The movie does lag a bit at the three quarters mark, but this is a minor quibble for a film that does what is sets out to with a lot more style than its lamentable cousins.

A whole lotta fun

6 out of 10.