Fellman's Movie Reviews

Men at Work is a 1990 comedy written and directed by Emelio Estevez. Estevez also stars in the movie along with Charlie Sheen, Leslie Hope, and Keith David. The movie involves Sheen and Estevez as a pair of garbagemen that find the body of a councilman who is running for mayor of the town where their garbage route is. The movie did poorly when it was released and as of right now, still only has a 30% rating on RottenTomatoes.com. 

I always liked Men at Work. But I have a habit of liking kitschy movies like this. I don’t necessarily think it’s good. I just like them. Men at Work is exactly that. It’s not necessarily a B movie. It had a studio behind it, and it had a big enough budget that it was made pretty well. It’s just that it was made in 1990, and it’s not exactly grade A material to be working with in the first place.  

The script has its moments. There are some funny parts. The prank war with their rival garbagemen; That’s a good side story. And the two peace officers; that’s a good bit. But it doesn’t make up for the rest of the script. It’s all kind of flat. Which, speaking of flat, Charlie Sheen and Emelio Estevez are both really unemotional actors. I mean, when it comes to range, these two show no emotion whatsoever. They’re both just so dry. A couple of scenes when they’re supposed to be excited or having fun or even screaming or yelling, they’re still just straight-faced. Estevez has always been like that. Charlie Sheen was at least a little funny in the Hot Shots movies. At least a little bit… 

But the script itself has to be taken for what it is. It’s a comedy about garbagemen. I’m sure somebody somewhere could find another way to make that funny. It’s just that this movie didn’t do it so well. And the ending was something that I really thought could have used a lot more work. It turned into this sort of wacky, almost Looney Tunes sort of thing. Where the rest of the movie was kind of a dark comedy. The ending got all goofy all of the sudden. It really made the feel of the whole thing take a left turn. Like, “when did it start being THIS kind of a movie?”  

But anyway, I’m not saying it’s bad. I’m just not saying it’s great. It’s alright. So, yeah. Go and see Men at Work. It’s alright to see Men at Work. It’s a little slice of Americana that not many people know about. And you’ll be able to reference the “golf clap” meme. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…