October 9, 1990 -- ``Men at Work'' is a movie about garbage men and it fails to rise above its material. The stars of the movie, Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen, certainly ought to have some chemistry together because they are brothers, but there are no sparks here at all. In fairness to the two actors, who have appeared in much better films, they don't have much to work with here.

After the two discover the body of a city councilman in an oil drum, they decide to investigate the murder themselves. Why not call in the police? Because Sheen had shot the man with a pellet gun before he was strangled by toxic waste dumpers. What?

Never mind. This is an idiot plot. It would never work if every character in the film, including the police, were total idiots. Estevez and Sheen pursue their investigation, breaking a number of laws along the way with absolute impunity. Estevez and Sheen play the parts of not overly bright garbage men who dream of opening a surfboard shop along the ocean. From their behavior in the movie, they'll never make it. Their characters are not remotely interesting. They show practically no intelligence and little character.

There are a few laughs in the movie, but not many. Most of the jokes miss the mark. The action sequences are also lame. The romantic interest in the film is not believable. There is only one moderately interesting performance in the film, that of a wacko garbage worker supervisor, but he can't carry the film alone.

This could have been a better film, a film about the kind of working class heroes that Americans love to root for. But there's no one to root for in this film. There's nothing for the audience to identify with. There are no heroes. This is the worst movie I have seen in a long time. On a scale of one to 10 it rates a two.

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