Dirty Laundry

Year releasted: 1987

by Nathan Rabin
February 5th, 2003

After going on a Fraternity Vacation and initiating meat-patty-related hijinks in Hamburger: The Motion Picture, Leigh McCloskey tapped a similarly rich vein of laundry-related humor with 1987's Dirty Laundry. As the film opens, McCloskey, a Walkman-loving soundman, is heading to the Laundromat for an ostensibly uneventful clothes-cleaning session. Little does he realize that at that moment, mob boss Frankie Valli has dispatched a goon to deliver a shipment of cash in a laundry sack, which, through a series of borderline-comic misunderstandings, ends up in McCloskey's possession. At the same time, a plucky young reporter (Jeanne O'Brien) struggles to make it in the cutthroat world of West Coast entertainment journalism. After failing to snag an interview with one of mob-connected manager Sonny Bono's musician clients, O'Brien is chewed out by her boss, who calls her a "lazy, good-for-nothing skirt who ain't got the brains of a garden-variety turnip." Eager to prove otherwise, O'Brien seeks out an interview with the press-shy musician at his concert later that evening. Meanwhile, on the way to the same concert, McCloskey banters with his neighbor before getting into a minor fender-bender with The Guy From The Micro Machines Commercials Who Talks Really Fast. The Micro Machines Guy notices the fortune in McCloskey's trunk, which prompts a rapid-fire, unintelligible rant from the once mildly popular pitchman. At the concert, McCloskey encounters O'Brien trying to sneak through the back door; defensively, she admonishes him not to "give me any of your self-righteous neo-fascist crap," but love is clearly in the air. McCloskey lets her into the theater, where she gets to experience a gratuitous musical performance by a gang of mascara-damaged hair-rockers. Before McCloskey and O'Brien can finish the show, they're shot at by a bald Valli-goon, who sends them fleeing into the night. After evading the shooter, McCloskey and O'Brien head to a nightclub populated by an unlikely assortment of emaciated-looking Goths and spandex-clad preppies practicing aerobics-informed dance moves. The two quickly bond while being pursued by Bono, Valli's thugs, and a pair of Miami Vice clones, leading to a marathon chase involving a karate school, breakdancing kids, and a terrifying appearance by Russ Meyer vixen Edy Williams. McCloskey and O'Brien are eventually captured, but they flee Valli's compound in a helicopter. She gets her story after all, while his misadventure makes the front page of USA Today on what must have been an agonizingly slow news day.After going on a Fraternity Vacation and initiating meat-patty-related hijinks in Hamburger: The Motion Picture, Leigh McCloskey tapped a similarly rich vein of laundry-related humor with 1987's Dirty Laundry. As the film opens, McCloskey, a Walkman-loving soundman, is heading to the Laundromat for an ostensibly uneventful clothes-cleaning session. Little does he realize that at that moment, mob boss Frankie Valli has dispatched a goon to deliver a shipment of cash in a laundry sack, which, through a series of borderline-comic misunderstandings, ends up in McCloskey's possession. At the same time, a plucky young reporter (Jeanne O'Brien) struggles to make it in the cutthroat world of West Coast entertainment journalism. After failing to snag an interview with one of mob-connected manager Sonny Bono's musician clients, O'Brien is chewed out by her boss, who calls her a "lazy, good-for-nothing skirt who ain't got the brains of a garden-variety turnip." Eager to prove otherwise, O'Brien seeks out an interview with the press-shy musician at his concert later that evening. Meanwhile, on the way to the same concert, McCloskey banters with his neighbor before getting into a minor fender-bender with The Guy From The Micro Machines Commercials Who Talks Really Fast. The Micro Machines Guy notices the fortune in McCloskey's trunk, which prompts a rapid-fire, unintelligible rant from the once mildly popular pitchman. At the concert, McCloskey encounters O'Brien trying to sneak through the back door; defensively, she admonishes him not to "give me any of your self-righteous neo-fascist crap," but love is clearly in the air. McCloskey lets her into the theater, where she gets to experience a gratuitous musical performance by a gang of mascara-damaged hair-rockers. Before McCloskey and O'Brien can finish the show, they're shot at by a bald Valli-goon, who sends them fleeing into the night. After evading the shooter, McCloskey and O'Brien head to a nightclub populated by an unlikely assortment of emaciated-looking Goths and spandex-clad preppies practicing aerobics-informed dance moves. The two quickly bond while being pursued by Bono, Valli's thugs, and a pair of Miami Vice clones, leading to a marathon chase involving a karate school, breakdancing kids, and a terrifying appearance by Russ Meyer vixen Edy Williams. McCloskey and O'Brien are eventually captured, but they flee Valli's compound in a helicopter. She gets her story after all, while his misadventure makes the front page of USA Today on what must have been an agonizingly slow news day.