Bus Boys (film): Extremely stupid, but it has its purpose

David Spade is one of those anomalies that doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. I have a soft spot for him because of his time with SNL and later with the films alongside Chris Farley but after that aside from Joe Dirt and the obligatory being included in everything that Adam Sandler makes, he doesn't really have a place in the film industry.

He is still held in rather high regard though even though his films don't generally make big returns nor is considered A-list (or is he?)

When Bus Boys popped up I could tell just by the synopsis that this film was going to be remarkably low-brow, but if you go in expecting that it can actually be a lot of fun.

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So what is this movie? Well, David Spade plays his usual self-deprecating loser type but he ends up rescuing a younger kid who is so much of a loser that even his name "Steef" is stupid. They kind of team up and look after one another but never really make it that far in life. When "Markie" (David Spade) has his girlfriend taken away from him by a waiter one day when they go out to eat, he and Steef start to have a fascination with waiters and the glorious life that all people in the profession have. This is obviously a pisstake because as someone that has been a waiter in the past, I can attest to the fact that being a waiter is the opposite of glorious.

They aspire more than anything to be waiters and in order to get there they must work their way up from starting out as bus boys.

While doing this job they start to feel like they are never going to get promoted so one day they decide to get into selling drugs instead and of course, are immediately busted.

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Some crossovers from other films come into play here and these stereotypes of various government agencies always wanting to take charge of a case are pretty funny, or at least it was to me. In order to gather intel as informants they send the two guys back to high school in a sort of 21 Jump Street sort of way.

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I suppose it takes the right kind of childish person to find any of this funny but I guess I am just the right amount of low class to enjoy it. I can understand why critics hated this movie, but seeing as how the audience score differs dramatically from the critic score, I think this film was specifically designed just to be a stupid sort of thing that idiots like you and I can laugh at whereas critics were always going to rip this one apart.

Everything about this movie is stupid and cliche and I think that as kind of the point. There are a ton of cameos and if you are a fan of Theo Von's podcasts you will probably recognize some of them. Some familiar faces who have been supporting cast members or "hangers on" from Sandler and Danny McBride.

I enjoyed all of them.

There is no captivating story arc here. Everything that happens is completely insane and really stupid, but I will admit that every now and then this is something I am in the mood for. There are no hidden tricks here, just zingers that are meant for people who don't actually want to follow some sort of difficult story. Two idiots accidentally stumble upon some sort of drug empire and completely by accident manage to bring it down.

There are some cameos from people you might never expect to see in a movie such as with Nate Diaz, who can't act like anyone other than himself and that is exactly what he does, and does it well.

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This is clearly a buddy film made by a bunch of people who are just having a laugh and enjoying themselves while making it. In the meantime though, you can see that Von and Spade in particular actually have some decent acting chops even though it rarely gets to be seen because this movie is intentionally dumb in the same way that Joe Dirt was.

Should I watch it?

I could end up regretting saying this but i think YES, yes you should. However, this is only if you appreciate Adam Sandler's silly comedies. If you hate those, you are going to hate this. I enjoy seeing films made by people that are probably genuinely fun individuals and I am sure they had a blast when they were making this. As you would expect this didn't do well in theaters and pulled down just under $3 million at the box office. There's no official word on how much it cost to make but I hope it broke even.

_{The only legal way to watch this movie is to find one of the few theaters that are still showing it, or by renting or buying it from a wide array of streaming services. It is currently not included in any basic streaming subscription}