While Joe Dirt might not have taken home the Academy Award for best motion picture of the year, the Joe Dirt movie script is still interesting to look at because it does not contain any of the traditional elements which are usually found in a screenplay. For instance, there is no plot, no characterization, and not much comprehensible dialogue.
What the script does have is a sort of gross-out juvenile humor from over the top scenes such as firecrackers inserted into the rectum of a cow, a dog with his private area frozen to a porch, a large meteor made out of frozen human excrement, flames that surge upward within a stream of urine, and a septic tank overflowing onto the head of the movie's hero.
About Joe Dirt
Many people may wonder who exactly is this man with a mullet named Joe Dirt? As the movie opens, we see Joe working as a janitor in a Los Angeles talk radio station. While performing his duties, Joe Dirt (played by David Spade) attracts the attention of one of the radio hosts, DJ Zander Kelly (played by Dennis Miller). DJ Zander Kelly ushers Joe Dirt into the studio for the purpose of making fun of Joe and asking him about his unusual upbringing. Of course the movie then reverts to flashbacks of Joe Dirt's life, accompanied by a soundtrack of redneck rock music.
What we Learn from Flashbacks
From flashbacks we learn that Joe was abandoned by his parents at the Grand Canyon when he was eight years old. They actually place him in a trashcan. From that point on he was raised in numerous foster homes. He goes to extreme lengths in order to track down his parents, including using the assistance of an Indian guide, a mobster in the Witness Protection Program (played by a psychotic Christopher Walken), and a police sketch artist. It becomes clear that the love of his life is Brandy (played by Brittany Daniel) and he is constantly tormented by a maniacal bully, Robby (played by Kid Rock).
The Plot
The plot of Joe dirt is not a plot in the normal sense. That is to say there is no real structure or bread and butter that pulls the movie together. We watch Joe Dirt endure numerous insults, the vast majority of which are juvenile variations of defamatory jests concerning homosexuals and mentally disabled individuals. Between flashbacks, we return to David Spade and a smarmier than ever Dennis Miller, as they converse in the radio station.
The Credits
Joe Dirt is David Spade's baby from start to finish. As star and co-writer, only David Spade can be blamed for the farcical disaster which is Joe Dirt. Yet the Joe Dirt movie Script also shows us that not all movies need to follow the cut and dry script format that almost every modern movie uses. David Spade goes so far as to happily embrace Joe Dirt as one of his greatest works.
The script does not provide us any truly memorable lines, but it gives us hope and proves that with a little backing from the production company of Adam Sandler, any script can be made into a moderately successful movie. Joe Dirt's hillbilly accent comes and goes like the defamatory jokes in the movie. The famous mullet wig does most of the writing and acting in this film.
A Final Note on the Joe Dirt Movie Script
The Joe Dirt script may not have won best original screenplay, but the movie does have a cult following. If you want to learn how to write a movie script, don't turn to Joe Dirt unless, of course, you are a Saturday Night Live alum like David Spade, who can get any movie made despite how insufficient the script might be.
Funny movies do not necessarily need to follow the blueprint of Hollywood movie scripts to be successful, as Joe Dirt has proven; a simple character can sustain an entire movie.
