perhaps best remembered as the recently departed news anchor on saturday night live who always started the segment with " . . . this is the fake news , " norm macdonald , at times , could elicit some laughter by blurting out semi-offensive phrases in his raspy voice , coated with a condescending attitude . 
his shtick was marked by crassness . 
in this movie , for example , when his girlfriend says that she's kicking him out because he's been fired from 14 different jobs over the last 3 months , he tries to calm the situation by saying , " maybe you'll feel better after we have some dirty sex . " 
this kind of humor can only go so far , but certainly can't go the distance in a full-length feature . 
 " dirty work " , is nothing more than a sophomoric comedy about two best friends who grow up only physically . 
emotionally , they've never outgrown their pubescent years , which is somewhat amusingly explored in a beginning flashback . 
although having no apparent real world skills , the one thing that these two have always been adept at is getting back at people . 
if the meter maid was unjust in giving you a ticket , then dump a bunch of unpopped kernels of corn onto the engine block and watch the car burst apart . 
mitch ( norm macdonald ) and sam ( artie lange ) need to come up with $50 , 000 in a period of two weeks so that sam's dad ( jack warden ) can have a heart operation . 
their idea is to start a revenge-for-hire business where they'll do your dirty work . 
in the funniest scene ( and possibly the only funny scene ) of the movie , they take advantage of a live television shoot at a nearby used car lot . 
their presence is established , but when a less-than-honorable real estate developer hires them and then reneges on the payment , the two go to work to exact their sordid brand of revenge . 
by default , dirty work should treat us to some outrageous revenge plots , but it delivers jerky boys level material . 
except for the bit at the used car lot ( and possibly another episode that involves frat brothers ) , the dirty work is uninspired and becomes about as funny as a prank phone call . 
already weak on material , it further spirals itself towards the video store by having jack warden constantly blurt out that he has an unsatisfied libido and needs 'broads' and also includes a very unfunny chevy chase as a bumbling doctor with a gambling addiction . 
but what's really painfully evident is that norm macdonald has no versatility as an actor . 
relying on his trademark of speaking into his personal recorder and saying " note to self " ( " note to self : learn to fight , " he says after getting beat up ; " note to self : there's always beer , " he says after hitting rock bottom ; etc . ) , we feel like we're just watching an elongated rehash of his not-so-glorious days on saturday night live . 
much like the television show , for 90 minutes we get one or two funny bits . 
the rest of the story is just dead space .