Everyone dreams about the Big Dirty. That's the mythic last job, the final score that'll set you up for a life of wealth, comfort and a never-ending supply of Export As and pepperoni sticks. Ricky (Robb Wells), Julian (Jean Paul Tremblay) and Bubbles (Mike Smith) have been chasing greasy rainbows for six seasons on the Showcase comedy series Trailer Park Boys, cussing their way through such get-rich schemes as stealing groceries and running a park bordello. Though the goal of "Freedom 35" may seem forever out of reach, our dirtbag heroes get a little closer all the time.

Now the guys star in a big-screen spinoff, Trailer Park Boys: The Movie. It's not the splashiest title, especially seeing as director and series creator Mike Clattenburg wanted Trailer Park Boys: The Big Dirty (what else?). The title was chosen by Ivan Reitman, the producer who shepherded the project to the screen and inevitably tinkered with the TPB formula along the way. Despite the struggles that went on behind the scenes of the $5-million production, the end result is thoroughly skeezy, satisfactorily funny and surprisingly sweet. And if it overcomes Canadian moviegoers' traditional bias against their country's own cinematic wares, it could turn out to be a great big Big Dirty for everyone involved.

One of the stars is certainly keyed up over the movie's arrival this weekend. "I have that feeling like I want to cry and vomit at the same time," says Lucy DeCoutere, who plays Lucy, Ricky's on/off special lady and mother of their daughter Trinity. Over the phone from Halifax (where the cast and crew just wrapped up work on season seven of the TV show), she describes how strange it feels to see the show get to this point.

"I do believe that a lot of people are gonna see this movie," she says. "I'm so excited because this is a testament to all the work that's gone into the series' development over the years and people's love for it and all that shit. But I also feel like it's a practical joke, like someone's about to say, 'Snap! You done!' When we're making the show, sometimes we'll say, 'Oh, people will think that's funny,' or 'We can't do that because people would find that weird.' But mostly we're doing it because Mike thinks it's wack and funny. So the idea of all this going anywhere is fucked... but fucked in the best way."

That description applies equally well to the new movie. While doing a stint in jail for a botched ATM robbery, Ricky and Julian both develop new ambitions. Hotheaded but soft-hearted, Ricky wants to make a proper family with Lucy and Trinity, though he's still plenty pissed off when he's let out before the jail's shinny hockey tournament. Meanwhile, Julian sets the plan in motion for the aforementioned Big Dirty, a heist that takes place at, appropriately enough, a movie theatre. Along with the kitty-obsessed Bubbles, the boys run into the usual troubles with park supervisor Mr. Lahey (John Dunsworth) and his shirtless sidekick Randy (Patrick Roach). Fans also get choice moments with the one and only J-Roc (Jonathan Torrens) and the dim-witted Cory and Trevor (Cory Bowles and Michael Jackson).

An increased number of locations, a helicopter chase and some casual T&A all mark this as a big-screen venture (it's also shot on lustrous 16mm, not handicams). Ironically, the show began life as a movie -- the first project to bear the name of Trailer Park Boys was a mockumentary Clattenburg made with former high-school buddies Wells and Tremblay in the late '90s. Though the original no-budget feature's production values made the average snuff film look like a Jerry Bruckheimer production, Showcase liked it enough to commission a series, which made its debut in April 2001. Before long, the show had moved from cult status to Canuck pop-culture phenom, arguably making Ricky, Julian and Bubbles bigger stars than some of the rockers who made cameos on the show (see sidebar).

A movie seemed a surefire way to extend the show's notoriety and brand value internationally. "When the possibility of a feature came," says Clattenburg in an interview last week, "we were all ready for it."

Clattenburg and Wells, the show's chief writers, had lots of ideas but Reitman -- the Czech-born, Canadian-bred kingpin whose CV includes such comedy landmarks as Meatballs, Stripes and Ghostbusters, as well as recent misfires like My Super Ex-Girlfriend -- wanted to ensure the movie had a broad appeal. "Ivan certainly wanted to tell it to first-time audiences," says Clattenburg. "He sent us back to the drawing board quite a few times until he was happy with the story. Believe it or not, one of the things that drew Ivan was the family values of Trailer Park Boys. He really steered us in that direction."

In another phone interview from Halifax, Wells mentions the need for "a lotta trips to LA" as both sides hashed out what the movie should be. The TPB folks bristled at another of Reitman's directives. Says Wells, "We were basically told from the start that if it was going to be an R-rated comedy, there had to be some kind of nudity. Right away, we weren't into that."

The solution was to have one of those new locations be a strip club where Lucy worked (Hugh Dillon is great as her menacing meathead of a boss). DeCoutere's character also got a boob job, her second in the show's history. Though no fan of augmentations herself, DeCoutere is still amused by Lucy's enthusiasm for enhancing her rack. "I remember when Mike asked me to get the boob job the first time, he was really afraid to ask me," she says. "I said, 'No, that's funny.' Since then I've had a number of strangers come up to me and say, 'Where are your tits?' And I'll say, 'My father's right here, bud.' That's actually happened."

DeCoutere calls the movie's nudity "a present for Ivan." Nevertheless, Clattenburg and Wells appreciated Reitman's input on other matters, such as how to whittle down the movie's extremely lengthy first cut (DeCoutere wondered if they were "gonna do a Kill Bill: Vol. 2") to a lean 95 minutes. "He brought so much to the table with the editing that really worked and we wouldn't have come up with," says Wells, who describes the collaborative process as "a double-edged sword."

Thankfully, the show has made the transition with its personality largely intact. What's more surprising is the movie's sweetness -- though Ricky and Lucy's relationship has long been one of the show's cornerstones, the movie wisely gives it a much fuller treatment. "It's almost like a romantic comedy in a weird way," says Wells. "It's as hardcore as the show but there's a lot more heart, which I think is nice." He also thinks it's a good way to bring in first-timers seeing as "our current fans know the characters so well, they can pretty much do anything and the audience will forgive them."

As weird as all this may sound in reference to a show that's introduced the word "shithawk" to the popular lexicon, it's good to be reminded that it should all come from the heart. "There's always been a subtext of love in the show," says Clattenburg. "It's always been about dysfunctional families and surrogate families and everyone trying to work it out. That's the framework we build the lunacy on."

In other words, what's a Big Dirty worth if you can't share it with the ones you love?

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