Men at Work

PG-13

1990

1 hr. 38 min.

Comedy

List

32%

28 Reviews

Tomatometer

44%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Carl Taylor (Charlie Sheen) and James St. James (Emilio Estevez) are garbage men who spend their workdays goofing around and disrupting the quiet on the streets of their town. But their good-natured fun comes to an abrupt halt when they discover a local politician's corpse in one of their cans. Determined that this is their chance to be more than trash collectors, this snarky pair of amateur detectives decide to solve the case on their own and so become entangled in a toxic waste cover-up.

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Fandango at Home

Premiered May 01

Buy Now

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Max

Apple TV

Watch Men at Work with a subscription on Max, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

Mark O

Michael Biehn is worse

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/17/24

Full Review

Jelisije J

A movie that is held up by the actors and not the script itself.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/21/24

Full Review

Steve D

It should have been fun to see these two together. It wasn't.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

09/09/23

Full Review

Ola G

Garbage collectors Carl Taylor (Charlie Sheen) and James St. James (Emilio Estevez) are known troublemakers at work, tossing cans in the street and disturbing residents. Local bike cop Mike hassles them frequently, but they are used to his bullying and shrug it off. They are put on probation for their disruptive antics and are assigned an observer: their supervisor's brother-in-law, Louis. After work, the pair spy on Susan Wilkins, a woman living across the street, and watch as she is mistreated by a man. She leaves the room and Carl, in a form of payback, shoots the man with a pellet gun. As James and Carl hide and laugh, two men enter Susan's apartment, strangle the man and drag him away. After stuffing his body into a barrel, they put the barrel in their car, but it falls out and is found the next day by Carl, James and Louis on their garbage route. Carl and James panic when they realize that not only is the dead man the same person Carl shot in Susan's apartment, but that he is also Jack Berger, a city councilman running for mayor... This poor Estevez/Sheen comedy vehicle with a "saving the environment" message is just bad and not much else. Paperthin storyline with wobbly acting, silly scenes, stereotypical characters and silly dialogue runs through the film. Saw it back in 1990 and I guess I looked upon it differently then today. I was more forgiving... Trivia: The original screenplay was tentatively titled Clear Intent and was written in the mid-1980s. Estevez came up with the idea while he was filming the 1985 movie St. Elmo's Fire. Said Estevez, "I was living in a studio apartment in Santa Monica at the time, and I was up late one night sitting at the kitchen table working out some story ideas on my computer. All of a sudden, this trash truck came roaring down the alley under my window. It was 5 a.m. and it just struck me -- no one had ever done a movie about trashmen before." It was slated to star another Brat Packer alongside Estevez, such as Judd Nelson. At one stage, John Hughes was going to be producer or director, according to Estevez. "When I was reading it, I thought it was so good, so close to my bone, that I had written it", said Hughes. "Emilio wants to direct it, and I'm sure he will be able to. He can do anything. He can act, he can write, he can direct. He's surpassed me in that respect. I can't act--I wish I could. Estevez wound up writing 15 different drafts of the film. He said he had no intention of having his brother Charlie star in the movie, but Sheen said he wanted a part after reading the script. "He felt he needed a comedy at this point of his career", Estevez said. (Via Wikipedia)

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

07/19/23

Full Review

paulino h

Had its funny moments. I think it got a bad score cause it was kind of a weekend at bernies ripoff. For the most part it was original.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

06/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is a 100% file for me and I can ascertain that this is a great movie

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Emilio Estevez

Director

Charlie Sheen

Carl Taylor

Emilio Estevez

James St. James

Leslie Hope

Susan Wilkins

Keith David

Louis Fedders

Dean Cameron

Pizza Man

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

Men at Work: Official Clip - The Pellet Gun

2:13

Men at Work: Official Clip - Dead Councilman

2:11

Men at Work: Official Clip - Another Man's Fries

1:49

Men at Work: Official Clip - Cuffed to a Carousel

2:01

Men at Work: Official Clip - Kicking Trash

2:02

Men at Work: Official Clip - The Drunk Texan

2:12

Men at Work: Official Clip - Throwing out the Trash

2:10

Men at Work: Official Clip - The Pizza Man Sees Too Much

2:12

Men at Work: Official Clip - Exploding Bags

0:48

Men at Work: Official Clip - Fun With Trash

1:25

View more videos

54%

57%

Weekend at Bernie's

48%

41%

We're No Angels

50%

61%

The Dream Team

50%

41%

Dragnet

58%

65%

The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear

TRAILER

for The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Weekly Ketchup: Is X-Force Fox’s New Franchise?

Letter from the Editor

SITE UPDATE: Rolling Out Changes

View more photos

Odie Henderson

House Next Door

Men at Work is patient zero for the plague of Charlie Sheen movies that infected the 1990s.

Aug 28, 2015

Full Review

Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: D-

Sep 7, 2011

Full Review

Time Out

The grotesque practical jokes perpetrated against two interfering bumblers are genuinely funny, while Estevez and Sheen remain cutely goofy even when indulging themselves in this adolescent idiocy.

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Estevez tries hard (as usual, Sheen just shows up), but the laughs simply aren't there.

Rated: 2/4

Feb 8, 2023

Full Review

Douglas Davidson

Elements of Madness

It may not be as funny as it once was, but it reminds fans of Estevez, Sheen, and David that these actors were some of the best at the time. Thankfully, there is current evidence of at least Estevez and David that this remains to be true.

Jan 24, 2023

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

There's little doubt that Men at Work fares best in its freewheeling, agreeably lighthearted opening stretch...

Rated: 2.5/4

Apr 5, 2020

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Carl Taylor (Charlie Sheen) and James St. James (Emilio Estevez) are garbage men who spend their workdays goofing around and disrupting the quiet on the streets of their town. But their good-natured fun comes to an abrupt halt when they discover a local politician's corpse in one of their cans. Determined that this is their chance to be more than trash collectors, this snarky pair of amateur detectives decide to solve the case on their own and so become entangled in a toxic waste cover-up.

Director: Emilio Estevez
Executive Producer: Moshe Diamant, Irwin Yablans
Screenwriter: Emilio Estevez
Production Co: Epic Productions, Euphoria Films Production
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): May 1, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $14.1M
Sound Mix: Surround

Most Popular at Home Now