JOE DIRT

Year: 2001
USA: Columbia Tristar
Cast: David Spade, Brittany Daniel, Dennis Miller, Adam Beach, Christopher Walken, Jaime Pressly, Rosanna Arquette, Kid Rock, Erik Per Sullivan, Megan Taylor Harvey, Caroline Aaron, Fred Ward, John Farley, Bob Zany, Bean Miller, Fred Wolf
Director: Dennie Gordon
Country: USA
USA: 93 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor, and for language
USA Release Date: 11 April 2001


Synopsis

From the producing team of the comedy smash DEUCE BIGALOW: MALE GIGOLO comes JOE DIRT, starring comedian David Spade in the title role of Joe, a guy who's learned everything on his own

The year is 1975 and little Joe Dirt is dumpster diving at a Grand Canyon tourist stop. After gorging himself on half-eaten snacks, he emerges from the garbage bin, only to find that his parents have left him. Now, this trash-eating eight year old is going to have to raise himself.

Now grown up and working as a janitor, Joe's got a mullet hairdo, acid-washed jeans, and a dream to find the parents that he lost, or lost him. Blasting Lynyrd Skynyrd in his souped-up muscle car, the irrepressibly optimistic Joe hits the road alone in search of his folks.

Along the way, Joe befriends a strange but wonderful cast of characters including a high school janitor (Christopher Walken), an alligator trainer (Rosanna Arquette), the fireworks salesman "Kicking Wing" (Adam Beach), the beautiful but untouchable Brandy (Brittany Daniel), and Robby (Kid Rock), Joe's rival for her attention. Through triumph and adversity, Joe Dirt ploughs on. As his wandering, misguided search takes him from one hilarious misadventure to another - from an unexpected flight in a dentist's molar-shaped hot-air balloon, to a strange interlude with a curvaceous young woman (Jaime Pressly) who might be his sister, to capture by a cannibalistic psycho - Joe finds his way to Los Angeles, where shock-jock Zander Kelly (Dennis Miller) brings Joe on his radio show for a quick on-air interview. Dirt is haplessly stuck in the '70s and the perfect target for the rapier wit of Kelly.

But as Joe starts to tell the tale of his bizarre life, and of his search for the parents who left him, listeners are surprisingly captivated by his hilarious and often touching story. Jeers turn to cheers, and an entire city starts to tune in daily to hear the adventures of Joe Dirt. It isn't long before audiences worldwide join to help this unlikely hero unearth the mystery of his family's disappearance with startling results.