Joe Dirt is a janitor with a mullet hairdo, acid-washed jeans and a dream to find the parents that he lost at the Grand Canyon when he was a belligerent, trailer park-raised eight-year-old. Now, blasting Van Halen in his jacked-up economy car, the irrepressibly optimistic Joe hits the road alone in search of his folks.
Contrived yet unpretentious, predictable yet surprising, this underdog comedy and its title character have considerable charm.
– Lisa Alspector,
Chicago Reader,
28 Feb 2007
rotten:
A comic named David Spade stars in a movie called Joe Dirt, and that's about as funny as things get here.
– Rick Groen,
Globe and Mail,
19 Mar 2002
rotten:
In one scene, raw sewage is dumped on Joe. See Joe Dirt and you'll know how that feels.
– Peter Travers,
Rolling Stone,
18 Apr 2001
rotten:
Were nature to take the course they both seem to want, the movie could end in 15 minutes. And it would still be too long.
– Mike Clark,
USA Today,
13 Apr 2001
rotten:
To see it is to sit through scene after scene like the one in which a hulking oil rigger spattered with crude takes a leak on some smoldering ashes for no reason at all.