Remember when Norm MacDonald was funny? Okay, remember when people thought Norm MacDonald was funny? There was a time in the late- nineties/early-two-thousands he got the full post-SNL treatment: a few leads in a a bunch of little seen comedies, his own sitcom which lasted a few seasons and he even got a gig as Lucky the Dog in Doctor Dolittle (1998). Among his various appearances at that time was the 2000 flop Screwed co-starring Dave Chappelle, Danny DeVito and Elaine Stritch. In it Norm plays a mistreated chauffeur who kidnaps his boss's dog and holds it ransom. After a series of unfortunate events however, the dog winds up back home and the boss and authorities believe the chauffeur to be kidnapped.What sets Screwed apart from other SNL-themed dead-horse-beaters is its unpredictability. While the insanity never reaches an energetic crescendo, its never the fault of the winning script; written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. You may recall they are the same writing partners that made Ed Wood (1994), The People Vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and Man on the Moon (1999). In Screwed their slumming not just as writers but as directors yet there's still a sly subtext of a desperate working class struggling against an uncaring bourgeoisie. It brings to mind Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) among other Commedia all'italiana only set to American tastes.All the supporting cast members including and especially Elaine Stritch and Dave Chappelle have brought their A-game. Norm MacDonald stands as the only discord in this goofy farce about crime and desperation. That and perhaps the sloppy, almost Kevin Smith-like direction and cinematography. Other than that however, the movie is worth a second look or at the very least worth more than a 7% on rottentomatoes. Even Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) got away with a 19%.

"Screwed" desperately tries to be a classic Shakespearean comedy, a style that really doesn't translate very well to modern cinema. It's full of comical misunderstandings, mistaken identities, suitcases ending up in the wrong hands, and somewhere in between the idea is that you laugh at something. I was hoping I had found a lost Norm MacDonald gem, but this movie doesn't play into any of his strenghts. He gets to do a lot of physical stuff, and absolutely no great deadpan one- liners: anyone who's familiar with his comedy knows that moving isn't his strong point. Danny De Vito and Dave Chappelle meet the same fate, they're stuck with a screenplay that gives them very little interesting to do. For what it's worth the movie is never flat-out boring, the story isn't bad but it just falls flat whenever they try to do a big comedy set piece. The movie is a lot more tolerable when it's not trying, but I'm not sure that's a great recommendation.There's one great scene in this though, the one where Norm gets interrogated by the hard-ass police detective. This is the kind of movie where whenever someone does a good line (i.e. not often), you think it's improvised. I guess that scene was entirely improvised.

I'm a little disappointed with this movie because I thought that it would be better. I expected more from this one. Plot is fine and best performance is delivered by Danny DeVito in a small role. He should be more in this movie. Norm MacDonald and Dave Chappelle can make that stupid face and they are OK each in their roles. But only DeVito and Elaine Stritch managed to do something with their characters.This movie is not bad but it isn't good too. It's somewhere in the middle. It starts good but in the middle of the movie gets boring. I don't know on what scenes other people laughed at. It's not that funny and most of scenes I've seen before in other movies. Small, little comedy but just don't expect too much. And take a look on Danny DeVito's performance.

When Norm MacDonald was on SNL, some of the funniest stuff I ever saw on the show was his Weekend Updates. However, he also had some really bad times where he just wasn't funny, like the whole show at that time. This movie is more like the Norm from the bad SNL's. His type of humor really doesn't change, but there must be something in the delivery or maybe the predictablity of it, because in this movie, it really isn't funny.Obviously, the plot isn't very strong since it's meant to be just a ridiculous comedy, but this is just terrible. The story is kind of dumb, the acting isn't very good, and it's just plain not funny.