Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski have made a name for themselves with some truly brilliant screenplays (Ed Wood, People Vs. Larry Flynt, and Man on the Moon). This is their first stab at directing and dare I say, the ones really getting "screwed" are the ticket-buyers. Norm MacDonald plays a housekeeper who becomes disenchanted with the abuse he's getting from his nagging and selfish boss (Elaine Stritch). Along with the help of his buddy (the terrific Dave Chapelle) they conspire to steal the old lady's dog and hold it for ransom. As expected, things don't quite go as planned. The biggest problem with Screwed is that it tries to fuse two other horrible movies (Drowning Mona and Lost and Found). The end result is the worst kind of movie a comedy that isn't funny. It's almost as if the filmmakers initially set out to make a raunchy R rated film, full of naughty jokes and bathroom humor (ala There's Something About Mary) but then the studio backed off and forced them to trim the picture down to PG-13.

MacDonald is known for his bone-dry dead-pan delivery and it doesn't work any better in Screwed than it did in Dirty Work. Chapelle does the best he can, but it's a lost cause.

The film goes overboard with slapstick theatrics and dumb doublecrosses. Even Danny DeVito's talents are completely wasted in this alleged comedy. I'd say I laughed about twice in Screwed. Alexander and Karaszewski have stumbled in their directorial debut|Zreturning to the form they first displayed in one of their earlier writing efforts Problem Child (not a good movie|Zin case you hadn't caught the drift).