By Melissa Antoinette Garza
Remember when Charlie Sheen was both cute and cool? I do. Can we go back to 1990? This was one of my favorites growing up. When I hit the video stores and would grab 7 movies for 7 days for $7.00, this was often among my picks. I’d grab six horror and then choose between a drama, romance or comedy. If I was being rushed or couldn’t decide, I’d grab MEN AT WORK (1990).
Now, it’s been about 20 years since I’ve seen this film and it’s on AMAZON PRIME so I decided to jump back in with brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. I’ll leave the “tiger blood” and “winning” jokes to the comedians at SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE so that you may proceed to read without your cringe-worthy face ready to go.
MEN AT WORK (1990) surrounds the lives of two garbage men Carl Taylor (Charlie Sheen) and James St. James (Emilion Estevez) who ride in the same truck. Carl is a voyeur who spies on all of his neighbors but pays closest attention to Susan (Leslie Hope). He knows how she takes her coffee and watches her every move with a pair of binoculars. Yes -it’s creepy, but in 1990 that was romance and Charlie Sheen was still the harmless kind of cute that could get away with it.
At the dump, a rivalry between James and Carl and two other drivers exist. They pull pranks on one another and it’s pretty much just boys-will-be-boys stuff though some of it is gross. Not as innocent is the abuse of bike cops Mr. Sneakyman/Jeff (Tommy Hinkley) and Mr. Bonehead/Mike (John Putch) . Taylor and James handle themselves well and sarcastically, but there is certainly no love-loss between them.
James and Carl want to open a surf shop, but haven’t gotten around to figuring out all the schematics of getting a loan. They do hit the waves after work and then do a little more spying on Susan. The boys get pissed when they see councilman Jack Berger (Darrell Larson) being abusive to her. They don’t realize the entire situation and just shoot Berger with a pellet gun. Right afterwards, Berger is killed. He was actually trying to expose a pollution scheme set up by rich douche Maxwell Potterdam III (John Getz) and was freaking out because Susan is his secretary and she unknowingly took the tape that proved Potterdam’s guilt. Potterdam III found out and the buffoons were then sent and killed them.
These killers are not very good. The murderers grab the wrong tape and get rid of the body in one of their yellow pollution tubs that falls out of their trunk while driving.
At work, James and Carl are teamed up with an observer and ex Vietnam Combat Vet Louis Fedders (Keith David) because of their past antics. Louis is rough around the edges, but he’s awesome. Carl scares both men and doesn’t initially get along with them.
While out, James and Carl come across the barrel with Berger’s corpse. The boys freak out, but Louis remains calm saying, “Looks like somebody threw away a perfectly good white boy.” It’s hilarious. Keith David is awesome. I love that man. Due to the corpse and the situation, the three form an unusually tight bond. It puts Louis back into war mode which excites him but scares Carl.
James wants to go to the cops but Louis isn’t having it. When Jeff and Mike show up, they WEEKEND AT BERNIE’S Berger and throw a cowboy hat on him. It somehow works and they decide to store the body at Carl’s while they decide to meet up with Susan to figure out what happened to Berger.
While Susan and Carl bond, James and Louis have a pizza delivered. The delivery guy (Dean Cameron) sees the corpse and Louis freaks out and kidnaps him. He then suffers a PTSD moment where he thinks that the pizza guy is an enemy combatant. It’s racist. It’s horrible. It’s also great and I love it. Somehow it manages to be both because Keith David and Dean Cameron are fabulous in this scene. Their physical comedy and overall timing is awesome.
In the end a huge showdown occurs between the garbage men, Susan and Louis and the polluters and Potterdam. The conclusion is predictable but it works.
This film really holds up though some of the humor would never go over today. There’s a few homophobic scenes that are cringe-worthy. Still, it’s a great flick and the comedic performances all around are fantastic. By far, Keith David is the shining star but everyone brings their A game.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7/10
