as scary as it sounds , i was actually looking forward to seeing the new david spade comedy , joe dirt . my entire childhood and much of my adolescence was spent in such podunk california towns such as exeter , georgetown , placerville , bakersfield , visalia , fresno , garden valley , kelsey , and cool . such places where ripped dokken t-shirts were worn with pride , jeans were bathed in an acid wash , and hair cuts were sported by the mullet kings of cali . i grew up in fear of wrangler jeans , bob seger t-shirts , and chevy camaros . joe dirt was meant to be redemption for my miserable years at the hands of these greasy , ignorant tormentors . but then 30 minutes went by and the movie took a sharp left into saps-ville , crashing and burning like a 74 'cuda wrapped around an oak tree . oh well . joe dirt the man ( david spade ) is a rebel without a clue or a proper barber . while mopping the floors at a local radio station in la , joe is corralled by a producer into an on-air interview with a howard stern wannabe dj ( dennis miller , in a role that finally solidifies his sell-out status ) , who ridicules his mullet hair and his white-trash beard patches . in defensive of his social stature , joe tells the tale of his life story -- his search for the parents who abandoned him at the grand canyon ; his various jobs as a 'gator wrestler , circus carnie , walking billboard , oil rig worker , janitor at a grade school ; and the love of his life brandy ( brittany daniel ) -- the " tokyo rose of the trailer park . " along the way , joe dirt has incestuous sex with an assumed sister ; gets pelted by hot chili and hot dogs ; gets beat up by numerous thugs ; receives mental torment via kid rock and his white-trash crew ; shoots fireworks at gasoline-filled tubs ; and is held hostage by buffalo bob in a strange silence of the lambs homage . it's too bad that instead of exploiting the ignorance and ridiculousness of the white-trash mentality , joe dirt is portrayed as a sympathetic loser who proclaims his vitality through motivational statements -- like " keep on keepin' on " and " life's a garden , dig it " -- enough to make stuart smalley cringe . the sappy love story also carries about as much credibility as whitesnake's greatest hits , sucking the energy out of the film . put simply , david spade is not a romantic lead , and he really can't carry a film on his zany attempt to be a thespian ( see also lost and found ) . the collection of bit parts given to such notable actors as roseanne arquette ( a 'gator ranch owner ) , christopher walken ( a janitor hiding out in the witness protection program ) , and fred ward ( joe's mullet-headed bastard of a father ) are actually the funniest parts of the movie . the best job in the film , though , goes to kid rock , who clearly didn't need to stretch beyond his roots , with his greasy long hair and limited vocabulary . . . the essence of trailer trash . more white-trash movies are on the way . up next , a film about the mr . show character " ronnie dobbs " called run , ronnie , run . will the mullet finally get its due ? we shall see . 
