Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Review

Film, Reviews, Theatrical Reviews, Top Story

About five years too late

Bad Grandpa feels like something that should’ve come out in 2007 or so. In the glow of the Borat movie, and still at their peak, the Jackass gang would’ve felt a bit more in line releasing a film like this. Trying to craft a narrative around hidden camera, shock value stunts feels dated at this point, though.

It’s a simple concept. Irving (Johnny Knoxville in old man makeup) has just lost his wife when his grandson (Jackson Nicoll) is delivered to him. His daughter is going to jail on drug charges, again, and Irving has to deliver the child from Nebraska to North Carolina to the child’s father. Along the way they bond as Irving’s alcoholism and desire for post-marital sexual interactions pose wacky problems for the young child.

The twist is that all of the shenanigans Irving and his grandson get into are hidden camera style, with real people reacting to his shenanigans.

The gags are mainly miss at this point because of the narrative structure. The one thing that Jackass the show and the film got right was that people doing stupid things for stupid reasons was comic gold. It’s slapstick in its purest form. We don’t need a grand story to laugh at people getting hit with various objects; it’s funny to just see them attempt crazy things, among others. You don’t need characters for a film like that; you just need people who are comfortable with a camera.

That’s the problem with Bad Grandpa to start with. A creepy old guy with a drinking problem isn’t funny on the face and adding in the child is just uncomfortable to begin with. So it’s not like we’re working with a brilliant proposition to begin with. The proposition is that Irving is inappropriate and drunk, and a profound jerk too, but it’s not funny on the whole. it can be at times, of course, but on the whole the concept itself doesn’t make you laugh right off the bat.

The other problem with the film is that the gags aren’t that impressive or comedic. There aren’t many things that couldn’t have found their way onto a network version of Candid Camera, with the obscenity blurred of course, but without the language there aren’t many gags that truly earn the film’s R-rating. This is a toned down version of what Knoxville would do without the makeup; there are plenty of shock gags but nothing that screams that this deserves an R outside of some extended uses of profanity.

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa feels like something that could’ve been a cult hit in 2008 if it were a film crafted in the wake of Borat, et al. Right now it just feels like the Jackass guys are just late to the party in a passable, forgettable comedy.

Director: Jeff Tremaine
Writer: Jeff Tremaine, Spike Jonze, Johnny Knoxville
Notable Cast:
Johnny Knoxville, Jackson Nicoll