Men at Work

Plot

Carl and James are two pleasant but unambitious garbage men. Carl has a telescope with which he observes his neighbors…

Release Year: 1990

Rating: 5.6/10 (9,533 voted)

Director:
Emilio Estevez

Stars: Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Leslie Hope

Storyline
Carl and James are two pleasant but unambitious garbage men. Carl has a telescope with which he observes his neighbors. One evening he sees a man giving a female neighbor a hard time. As she leaves he shoots the man with a pellet gun. Hiding, he and James miss two men strangling the man and leaving with the body. When he appears in a can on their route they are afraid and hide the body, fearing that they may be implicated in the death. Trying to crack the case, they spy on the woman, join up with a slightly to majorly crazed Vietnam vet, kidnap a pizza man and help to protect the ecology.

Cast:

Charlie Sheen
–

Carl Taylor

Emilio Estevez
–

James St. James

Leslie Hope
–

Susan Wilkins

Keith David
–

Louis Fedders

Dean Cameron
–

Pizza Man

John Getz
–

Maxwell Potterdam III

Hawk Wolinski
–

Biff

John Lavachielli
–

Mario

Geoffrey Blake
–

Frost

Cameron Dye
–

Luzinski

John Putch
–

Mike

Tommy Hinkley
–

Jeff

Darrell Larson
–

Jack Berger

Sy Richardson
–

Walt Richardson

Kari Whitman
–

Judy

Taglines:
Cleaning up in August at theaters everywhere.

Release Date: 24 August 1990

Filming Locations: Hermosa Beach, California, USA

Opening Weekend: $3,184,311
(USA)
(26 August 1990)
(962 Screens)

Gross: $16,247,964
(USA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

The Japanese garbage collectors' union demanded that the film be banned from video shelves as it disparaged trash collectors, portraying them in a poor light.

Goofs:

Continuity:
When Carl and James are eating lunch Carl's (Charlie Sheen), bottle of Budweiser rotates between camera shots to always have the top red label 'Bud' towards the the camera without being touched.

Quotes:

[first lines]

Jack Berger:
I can't support this activity any longer, Max.

User Review

Hilarious movie…one of the best of the '90s

Rating: 10/10

People who dismiss this as juvenile humor or another stupid buddy comedy are
totally off the target. Emilio Estevez's screenplay is quite an intelligent
story with a number of colorful characters. Real-life brothers Estevez and
Charlie Sheen have EXCELLENT chemistry together – their comic timing is
perfect, and the scenes where they're just hanging out, talking about their
plans to open a surf shop are a true highlight.

Another true highlight is Keith David. This is, without a doubt, his finest
performance captured on film. Playing the rough boss's brother-in-law Louis,
who is employed to keep a watch on the mischevious garbagemen pals, David is
just perfect. Hearing him lecture about "another man's fries", his Vietnam
days "in the jungle", and his speech to the cops are just all priceless
moments. It's one of the funniest marriages of actor and role – and Mr.
David just plays it all so well. Watch him snap at the pizza man who's "seen
too much."

All in all, "Men at Work" is a delightful, crowd-pleasing comedy that is
able to make me laugh far more than the types of films that are heralded as
"excellent comedies" like "Dr. Strangelove" and "Annie Hall." Give me this
any day.

And Charlie, you may put this down…but in all honesty, this is your finest
work to date, even ahead of comedic roles in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and
the two very good "Major League" movies. It's lightyears better than the low
points of "Spin City", too.

"Men at Work" is highly recommended, and is one of many films on IMDb whose
low rating you can completely disregard. Or don't disregard it, but then
you'll just be even more pleasantly surprised by the ensuing
hilarity.