One man’s trash…
One man’s trash… Men at Work (1990) isn’t so much a cult classic as an artifact of a certain time and place that deserves a bit of nostalgification. If you walked into a video store anytime in the 90s and wandered past the comedy shelf, odds are you saw it there – a UV-faded box, usually with an old half-scratched off Staff Pick sticker.
This is an early entry in the slacker film pantheon.
Its Emilio’s movie, literally. He wrote it, directed it, starred in it, and dragged his hotter brother along for the ride. But notably, Keith David wanders in as the psycho war vet to add some scene-stealing shine. The plot’s got the usual smorgasbord of corrupt businessmen shenanigans, but story tropes aside, it’s all about watching two guys avoid work, talk shit, and stumble into an eco-conspiracy while making fart jokes and delivering one liners.
It was trashed by critics, dumped by audiences and its theatrical run came and went. But if you were the right kind of bored in the early ‘90s, this one had a dead-end job relatability – it golf-clapped back at a system that ignored you.
Plus, it was dumb enough to relax into, and just smart enough to quote to your friends.
This wasn’t high art, but some of us treasured it. It was time well wasted. -Pop