Episode #34 -- Joe Dirt

(or: "The Textbook Definition of Grading on a Curve")

Joe Dirt is a 2001 movie about a guy, played by David Spade, who the movie just loooooooooves to shit on, literally and figuratively. He's abandoned by his family, constantly made fun of by Kid Rock and other various creeps, and is exploited by a shock-jock radio host (Dennis Miller, playing what seems to be an only slightly exaggerated version of himself). It's full of ideas and jokes that for the most part either miss the mark or which haven't held up well now, some seventeen years later. Somehow, between all of the poop jokes and casual homophobia, David Spade manages to eke out a likable performance and land three or four legitimately funny jokes that salvage this from being an utter trainwreck of a movie. We never thought we would be saying this, but Kid Rock isn't terrible in this movie. Put that on the poster! Sure, that means that someone will have to go back in time and talk to the people in charge of advertising this movie, but stranger things have happened-- Kid Rock not being terrible in this movie, for example. It's a strange world that we live in!