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Release Date: January 5th, 2016 Movie Release Year: 2015

Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser

Overview -

The hicksterical sequel to Joe Dirt has David Spade returning as the mullet-headed hero. After he’s transported back in time, Dirt must fight to get back to the present and to his family. Brittany Daniel (The Game), Patrick Warburton (Rules of Engagement) and Christopher Walken (Wedding Crashers) also star.

OVERALL:
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Rating Breakdown
STORY
VIDEO
AUDIO
SPECIAL FEATURES
Tech Specs & Release Details
Technical Specs:
Extended Edition
Video Resolution/Codec:
1080p/AVC MPEG-4
Length:
109
Aspect Ratio(s):
1.78:1
Audio Formats:
Thai 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles/Captions:
English, English SDH, Chinese (Traditional), French, Indonesian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai
Release Date:
January 5th, 2016

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

Ranking:

Being the reviewer who positively reviewed the first 'Joe Dirt,' I found it only fitting that I volunteer to review the Crackle original sequel 'Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser.' Boy, did I make a terrible decision.

Not everyone likes stupid humor. Those who enjoy "the finer things in life" find Adam Sandler's buddies' movies joyless and unfunny. While I haven't enjoyed a new Sandler movie in over a decade, I have always enjoyed the original 'Joe Dirt' for it's stupid humor, physical gags, and even it's nice little heart – but 'Joe Dirt 2' has none of that. Not a single ounce of that. If you once enjoyed Adam Sandler movies, but now think he's only pumping out terrible, effortless money grabs, then you're likely to look at 'Joe Dirt 2' in that exact unforgiving light. None of what made the first one memorable or entertaining is found in 'Beautiful Loser.'

'Joe Dirt 2' follows the narrative structure of 'Forrest Gump': it begins with the unintelligent mullet man sitting on a bus stop bench explaining his life story to a stranger. Halfway through, his story catches up with this modern moment and Joe finds himself attempting to correct life.

'Beautiful Loser' starts in modern times, 15 years after the events of the original. He, Brandy (Brittany Daniel) and their beautiful daughters live in a glamorized single-wide trailer. They've kept up their white trash appearances and brought them to a whole new level. When a tornado sweeps through their trailer park, his family gets to safety, but Joe is swept away like Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz' – only he's not on his way to some magical, colorful land. Instead, he's taken back in time to the 50s. Let me warn you: if you're expecting this to follow any logical or rational sense of time travel (and the tropes that come with it), think again. This is a 'Joe Dirt' movie, after all. Not 'Looper.'

With no means of getting back to present day, Joe proceeds to re-live his entire life - only this time he's living in the beautiful dream town of Silvertown, the place where Brandy grew up. Joe doesn't age through the decades and his other self as nowhere to be found. In order to ensure that he ends up with Brandy, Joe has to be in the right place at the right time. If he fails, his future will not be the way it once was. The majority of what 'Beautiful Loser' leads up to his original Brandy encounter from the first movie. You know – the scene with the dog's scrotum frozen to the patio floor board.

The sad thing about 'Joe Dirt 2' is that absolutely every returning actor appears to be embarrassed – completely ashamed – to be in it. David Spade. Britney Daniels. Dennis Miller. Adam Beach. Christopher Walken. Not one of them seems proud to be doing what they're doing; therefore, none of them put any effort into it. The only player who seems to give a damn is Patrick Warburton. Because of that, his new bigot biker character actually brings some humor. Warburton is literally the one thing that drove me to give 'Beautiful Loser' a half-star review. Without him, it would have received zero stars from me. Every actor, other than Warbuton, delivers the bare minimum needed to earn craft food services and that sweet paycheck at the end of the shoot.

The one thing that I hoped to get from 'Joe Dirt 2' was some funny comedy. Very few new jokes and gags were written for the sequel. Instead, it relies solely on the nostalgia of old jokes from the first movie. Aside from those many throwbacks, the vast majority of the new content falls flat. There's a reason that this humorless comedy went directly to a third tier, free streaming service (Crackle) instead of going to theaters – or even straight to Blu-ray: it's awful. Terrible even. And I can't recommend it to a single person. Not even those who – like me – actually adore the first. Do yourself a favor and avoid 'Joe Dirt 2' like the plague. There's nothing beautiful about this loser.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

Although the movie is still free to watch at your convenience on Crackle, 'Sony' has given 'Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser' and extended cut and placed it on a Region-free BD-50. A Digital HD code is also included for the redemption of the extended cut. When you first pop the disc in, following a Sony Home Entertainment reel, trailers for 'Paul Blart 2,' 'Ratter,' 'Home Invasion' and 'Joe Dirt' play – all of which can by skipped over.

Video Review

Ranking:

'Joe Dirt 2' features a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode that's very good – but in this case, that's not a good thing. It's so sharp and clear that it allows for the painfully low budget and production value to shine through at cringe-worthy levels. The original movie features a purely cinematic look to it, but 'Beautiful Loser' looks like a parody video that you'd see on YouTube. The high-detail sharpness reveals the edges of bad wigs and the seams of flawed sets. The sets are so cheap that many scenes unnaturally flood them with fog to cover them up. Without any fill light, the key lighting is extremely harsh. In many locations, the fog absorbs the light and turns the setting into a glowing haze. When not watching one of these many instances, there are lots of great textures and fine details to see. Unfortunately, those moments don't come around often.

Stock footage is peppered throughout the movie. More often than not, the stock B-roll imagery is as cheap as could be. Most of it is from the '70s or '80s and features heavy film grain. Scratches are abundant. Some of it was obviously never intended to be used for movies and features a low-res appearance.

Audio Review

Ranking:

'Joe Dirt 2' carries a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio tracks that's just about as well mixed as you'd expect from a movie made specifically for a streaming service. It's lackluster, uneven and mostly derives from the front and center. Some of the effects make use of the surround channels, but not many. The minimal amount of effects are thrown into the mix and when they are, they're flat and lacking dynamics. The dialog mix is okay, but is trumped from time to time. Christopher Walken's dialog is so mumbly and muffled that it's frequently hard to hear.

Just like the first movie, there's quite a bit of classic rock thrown into the mix. Although the music sounds great, it's poorly mixed amongst the effects and dialog. More often than not, it unintentionally trumps the other sounds. Instead of harmoniously blending with the others, it clashes. The levels aren't blended, so the dynamics are noticeably off.

Special Features

Ranking:

No special features are included.

Final Thoughts

I have no shame professing my love for the first 'Joe Dirt,' but 'Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser' is an embarrassing movie to I can only confess to having seen. It's a tragic mess that falls victim to the plight of many comedy sequels – it focuses too much on rehashing old jokes, rather than writing new ones. The screenplay is so absurd and brain dead that it's charmless. It's so bad, in fact, that only one of the many actors gives an ounce of effort to his performance (Patrick Warburton). It's hideous. The video quality isn't terrible, but it reveals too much of the movie's painfully low production quality. The audio is poorly mixed and there's not a single special feature to be found. 'Joe Dirt 2' is a waste of sequel. Having suffered through it, I urge you to skip it.