Men at Work (1990) | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

32% Tomatometer 28 Reviews 44% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings

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.

Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

Men at Work

Critics Reviews

View All (28) Critics Reviews
Men at Work (1990) | Rotten Tomatoes (1) 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 Men at Work (1990) | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly Rated: D- Sep 7, 2011 Full Review Men at Work (1990) | Rotten Tomatoes (3) 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 Men at Work (1990) | Rotten Tomatoes (4) 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 Men at Work (1990) | Rotten Tomatoes (5) 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 Men at Work (1990) | Rotten Tomatoes (6) 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

Audience Reviews

View All (532) audience reviews

Narciso R Not bad for being a brother movie, directed by one of them. Keith David does an awesome job, he's hilarious. A politician gets killed, who doesn't like that? NRJ. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/26/24 Full Review Bryan P Genuinely terrible. I like silly “buddy movies,” but even with that in mind, this movie is just dumb. Don’t waste your time. Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 08/11/24 Full Review Mark O Michael Biehn is worse Rated 1/5 Stars • 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 2/5 Stars • 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 1/5 Stars • 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 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Men at Work

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

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

Movie Clips

View All videos

Men at Work

Men at Work: Official Clip - The Pellet Gun Men at Work: Official Clip - The Pellet Gun 2:13 Men at Work: Official Clip - Dead Councilman Men at Work: Official Clip - Dead Councilman 2:11 Men at Work: Official Clip - Another Man's Fries Men at Work: Official Clip - Another Man's Fries 1:49 Men at Work: Official Clip - Cuffed to a Carousel Men at Work: Official Clip - Cuffed to a Carousel 2:01 Men at Work: Official Clip - Kicking Trash Men at Work: Official Clip - Kicking Trash 2:02 Men at Work: Official Clip - The Drunk Texan Men at Work: Official Clip - The Drunk Texan 2:12 Men at Work: Official Clip - Throwing out the Trash Men at Work: Official Clip - Throwing out the Trash 2:10 Men at Work: Official Clip - The Pizza Man Sees Too Much Men at Work: Official Clip - The Pizza Man Sees Too Much 2:12 Men at Work: Official Clip - Exploding Bags Men at Work: Official Clip - Exploding Bags 0:48 Men at Work: Official Clip - Fun With Trash Men at Work: Official Clip - Fun With Trash 1:25 View more videos

More Like This

View All Best Movies to Stream at Home

Weekend at Bernie's 54% 57% Weekend at Bernie's We're No Angels 48% 41% We're No Angels The Dream Team 50% 61% The Dream Team Dragnet 50% 41% Dragnet The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear 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

Related Movie News

View All Related Movie News
Weekly Ketchup: Is X-Force Fox’s New Franchise? Letter from the Editor SITE UPDATE: Rolling Out Changes

Photos

View All Men at Work photos

Men at Work

Men at Work (1990) Men at Work (1990) Men at Work (1990) Men at Work (1990) View more photos

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

Producer
Cassian Elwes, Barbara Stordahl

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

Runtime
1h 38m

Sound Mix
Surround
Most Popular at Home Now
Men at Work (1990) | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Mrs. Angelic Larkin

Last Updated:

Views: 5772

Rating: 4.7 / 5 (67 voted)

Reviews: 90% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Mrs. Angelic Larkin

Birthday: 1992-06-28

Address: Apt. 413 8275 Mueller Overpass, South Magnolia, IA 99527-6023

Phone: +6824704719725

Job: District Real-Estate Facilitator

Hobby: Letterboxing, Vacation, Poi, Homebrewing, Mountain biking, Slacklining, Cabaret

Introduction: My name is Mrs. Angelic Larkin, I am a cute, charming, funny, determined, inexpensive, joyous, cheerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.