Screwed was another nail in the coffin of former Saturday Night Live wisecracker Norm MacDonald, following his dismal previous film, Dirty Work. However, while Screwed isn't particularly funny (the jokes about dentures, dog poop, and dead bodies are pretty much as old as the hills), the plot exerts a perverse interest; for most of the movie, it's genuinely unpredictable. MacDonald plays Willard, the butler-chauffer, all-purpose flunky of Mrs. Crock, the wealthy, penny-pinching owner of a pastry company. Fed up with her abuse, Willard and his friend Rusty (David Chappelle from Blue Streak and 200 Cigarettes) connive to kidnap her dog Muffin. But Muffin escapes and returns home; the ransom note is assumed to be for Willard himself. Rusty and Willard run with the idea, sending in a videotape of himself being held prisoner. When a detective starts getting a little too close, they panic and decide to fake Willard's death... Okay, none of it makes much sense, but in a world of ridiculously formulaic movies that slavishly follow every screenwriting cliché, Screwed seems like a brief oasis of narrative invention. Of course, it still isn't funny. And by the end, it's lost whatever spark of imagination that got it started. Too bad. It's written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the screenwriters responsible for Problem Child, but also for Ed Wood and The People vs. Larry Flynt--they should stick to biographies. --Bret Fetzer
2.
Willard Fillmore (Norm MacDonald) has been the butler, housekeeper, gardener, and chauffeur for the wealthy, shrewish Miss Crock for fifteen years. When she refuses to buy him a new uniform, he decides he's finally had enough of her shrill, demanding ways, and with the help of his best friend Rusty (Dave Chappelle), they hit on a foolproof scheme: kidnap Miss Crock's beloved dog Muffin and ransom it for one million dollars. When this plan fails the two look for other ways to get away with Miss Crock's money, resulting in an encounter with stun-gun wielding grade schoolers, frustrated detectives, and a bizarre mortician by the name of Grover Cleaver (Danny DeVito) who is obsessed with Hawaii Five-O. Codirectors Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (screenwriters of ED WOOD and MAN ON THE MOON) make their directorial debut and pay homage to the great screwball comedy classics of the past with this frenetic, wildly goofy farce.
3.
Willard Fillmore (Norm MacDonald), the abused and under-appreciated chauffeur to Miss Crock (Elaine Stritch), the employer from hell, devises a foolproof plan for revenge. He and his bumbling best friend Rusty (Dave Chappelle) team up with a creepy mortician (Danny DeVito) and kidnap the nasty woman's prized pooch, holding it ransom. But when the dog escapes, Miss Crock mistakenly comes to the conclusion that it's her chauffeur who's been kidnapped. And what's an incompetent, ungrateful employee worth on the ransom market these days?
4.
When the abused and under-appreciated chauffeur of an employer from hell devises a foolproof plan for revenge, things quickly get out of control. With the aid of his hot-headed best friend and a creepy mortician, the chauffeur engages in a botched kidnapping scheme that results in a comedy of errors.
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