The ’90s Slapstick Crime Comedy With Two Of The Decade’s Hottest Stars, Stream Now
As the 1980s waned and paved the way for a new decade of film, the Brat-Pack actors began to pursue other roles that went beyond their typecast high school characters. In 1990, two 1980s icons starred together in what might be the best feature film ever directed by a former Brat Pack member. Emilio Estevez directs and co-stars in Men at Work with Charlie Sheen, a movie that tested the limits of goofball comedies.
Work Hard, Play Hard
Men at Work is the story of two Los Angeles garbage collectors that spend more time screwing around on the job than they do filling up their truck. Whether it’s early morning trash can bowling or the litany of pranks they pull on other pairs of collectors at the city, Carl (Charlie Sheen) and James (Emilio Estevez) show that they aren’t the types to take their job with any level of seriousness.
One night the two of them are spying on a woman that lives across the street in another apartment building. They see the object of Carl’s affection Susan (Leslie Hope) getting screamed at by a panicked man that bursts into her home. In true Men at Work fashion, Carl and James decide to have fun with the situation and Carl takes aim and shoots the man with a pellet gun.
A Barrel Of Fun
But while Carl and James are taking cover, they fail to see the woman leave and two large men enter the apartment. The men strangle the man that Carl just shot and stuff his corpse in a barrel. After the barrel falls out of their vehicle and lands near a cluster of garbage cans on the curbside, guess who picks up the body on their trash route the next morning?
Investigation Is Imminent
Unfortunately for Carl and James, their attitudes and poor work performance has led to their route being supervised by a bureaucrat. Men at Work gets even more hilarious as the young men are forced to let a shell-shocked Vietnam War veteran named Louis (Keith David) ride in the truck with them on the day that they pick up the man’s body.
At first, Carl and James are paranoid that Carl’s pellet gun killed the man. But Louis sees that the man was strangled to death. Men at Work has Louis force Carl and James to stash the body, as he won’t tolerate a police investigation.
Toxic Waste Tomfoolery
Men at Work reveals that the dead man is Jack Berger (Darrell Larson), a City Councilman that is currently campaigning for Mayor. Carl and James begin to investigate their neighbor Leslie and her potential involvement in the murder and find themselves deeply entwined with an extortion plot and a toxic waste cover-up.
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GFR SCORE
Men at Work never takes itself too seriously. Estevez, who also wrote the screenplay, takes every opportunity for the characters to get in funny jabs, hilarious one-liners, and great physical comedy. Keith David (The Thing) is particularly notable in his performance as a paranoid psychotic that seems to really get his kicks tormenting his charges.
Men at Work‘s ridiculous storyline adds to the movie’s fun. Predictable, but still funny, audiences can settle in and enjoy laughs from start to finish.
You can stream the off-the-wall comedy Men at Work for free with Freevee.
