Men at Work Review

Toxic waste is being illegally dumped off the coast of California and the politician who’s ready to blow the whistle on it soon ends up dead inside a trash can. As a couple of lackadaisical garbage collectors, Sheen and Estevez inevitably stumble across t

by Tom Tunney |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1990

Running Time:

90 minutes

Certificate:

12

Original Title:

Men at Work

Written and directed by and starring Emilio Estevez, this tame and mostly nondescript exercise rolls along gently enough from one obvious situation to the next: our two heroes put a hat on the corpse and pretend it’s alive when the local cops turn up; one of them ends up stuck inside a barrel and there’s a big chase which sees them hanging on the swinging rear doors of a truck. The bad guys are all real cardboard cut outs, Charlie falls in love and there’s a few clumsy moments about the environment thrown in for good measure.

Also there’s exactly one genuinely funny line and it is this: “There are several things in this world that you never mess with - one is another man’s fries”. It is, however, a strength of Men At Work that Estevez has kept things very relaxed and casual: instead of the big loud mouths of most failed Hollywood comedies, this is a double act that attempts to go for the slow-burn brand of action and reaction.

The very weak script means that it’s mediocre in the extreme, but if you’re a fan of either of Martin’s boys, then at least it’s trash with the faint whiff of a sweet smell.
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