Odd Jobs‘ cast reads like a killer lineup at a 1980s comedy club. Surprisingly, though, with all of this comedic talent onboard, it’s brutally unfunny.
I was browsing through the Cinemax On Demand lineup and ran across a movie I’d never heard of before starring Paul Reiser (Aliens), Robert Townsend (Hollywood Shuffle), Paul Provenza (Northern Exposure), Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver), and Rick Overton (Groundhog Day) among others. I was intrigued. Why had I never heard of this movie? Odd Jobs‘ cast reads like a killer lineup at a 1980s comedy club. Surprisingly, though, with all of this comedic talent onboard, it’s brutally unfunny.
The premise is of the movie is that five college buddies work an assortment of summer jobs and find them to be unsatisfying. One of them, Max (Reiser), decides that he is going to start his own moving company and hires his friends so they don’t have to work for someone else. This, in and of itself, isn’t a terrible idea for a film. The problem arises when the script, penned by Robert Conte and Peter Wortmann (Who’s Harry Crumb?,) spools out the story as a collage of unfunny situations strung together with half-assed voiceover narration provided by the main characters. The voiceover, in the guise of an interview, also manages to spoil the movie just after the opening credits. In other words, the entire movie is the set-up for a joke for which we’ve already heard the punchline.
This wouldn’t be so bad if the set-up were interesting or entertaining. Unfortunately, it’s quite the opposite. We follow five 30-year-old men who are supposed to be college “kids” (and are referred to as such by other characters) as they flail their way through a series of summer jobs like caddying at a golf course, working at a snobby restaurant, and selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door. To give you an idea of the writers’ sense of humor, the vacuum cleaners are nuclear powered. When Roy (Overton) decides he’s fed-up selling the machines, he destroys one in a fit of rage. Newsreel footage of an atomic explosion depicts the results of his decision. You know, because nothing sells a joke like the detonation of a weapon of mass destruction.
The script also takes its sweet time getting to the point. Max’s idea to start his own moving company doesn’t come to fruition until the movie is nearly half over. Throw in subplots about car thefts, organized crime, and Max’s frustration that his ex-girlfriend (Julianne Phillips) is dating a guy named Spud, and one can guess how much time is actually spent on resolving things in a coherent manner. None.
Odd Jobs‘ biggest problem is that it throws too many unbelievable scenarios into what could have been a genuinely believable comedy. It’s biggest sin is wasting a truly talented cast on such drivel. Don’t waste your time.
1.0 out of 5.0 stars
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