"Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa" - directed by Jeff Tremaine
Here's the latest in the 'real' series from the Jackass crew.
In front of the camera it is just Johnny Knoxville this time though.
The style is still pure Jackass - film outrageous stunts and scenes and make unsuspecting bystanders unknowing accomplices.
I'm not a huge fan of the Jackass movies that preceded this one - I find them uneven with the laughs.
For every toy car in the condom in the colon scene of hilarity there are four or more around it that just don't really work for me.
The formula changes a little with this one in that there is a narrative of sorts at play.
Courtesy of hours of makeup (they eventually got it down to 2 hours & 45 minutes) Knoxville is transformed into eighty six year old senior citizen Irving Zisman.
Filmed over ten months in six cities the film follows Irving as he drives across the US to return his eight year old grandson to the boy's Father to care for while his Mother is in prison.
The plot exists merely to enable a series of stunts and pranks to take place and as such does its job perfectly well.
The film has already done great business in the US already returning over $70,000,000 on a $15,000,000 production budget.
The trailers looked pretty funny to me but because of my history of not particularly enjoying the Jackass movies I was not totally convinced that it was going to be worthwhile.
($10 advanced screening tickets go a ways towards convincing me of course).
Right from the opening scene my fears were somewhat allayed.
The secret weapon in this movie is utilised here- nine year old Jackson Nicoll as Billy.
The young man doesn't miss a trick with his delivery - never breaking character in circumstances that no doubt require him to think on his feet.
Every scene in this movie is at least in part improvised - the actors don't know how people not in on the fact that they are in a movie will react or what they will say.
Nicoll nails every scene and is clearly a young actor to watch.
Johnny Knoxville is an old pro at this of course but that shouldn't take anything away from his performance.
The makeup is exceptional and no doubt helps but he convinces every single person with whom he comes into contact that he is a very old man.
Bear in mind that he is often a mere foot or two away from these people and the makeup cannot be touched up between takes because there are none.
Here is make-up effects man Steve Prouty describing the process....
“The final make-up was 10 pieces, including a bald cap, ears, back of the neck, a wrap that was the neck and cheeks together, a forehead, upper lip, lower lip and backs of hands. We also had a wig, eyebrows, mustache and some hand-laid hair around the ears and back of neck to sell the make-up a bit more. We started putting hair in the ears, because we had to cut a hole in the side of one ear for Johnny’s ‘earwig,’ through which the director would give him directions. That could sometimes be a little obvious, so we ended up adding some hair to his ears, which became a signature of the make-up.”
The humour is exactly what you'd expect - lowbrow in the extreme.
That means nudity designed to shock, fart and poop jokes and completely inappropriate behaviour from go to wo.
And it works.
A farting contest that goes wrong in a diner is a strong contender for the funniest scene and had me close to tears with laughter.
Close second is perhaps the male strip review scene.
Even the moments that don't raise huge laughs entertain through their audacity.
Be it Irving displaying his grandson openly drinking beers for all to see in a public park or the deliberate acts of criminal vandalism and theft there is barely a dull moment.
Irving entering Billy in a beauty pageant for little girls is not only hilarious in its boldness but delivers a well deserved and revealing skewering to the truly awful event.
It is amazing watching parents shocked as Billy overtly struts to Warrant's 'Cherry Pie' even though it is only a little way more inappropriate than the parading of their own overly made up 'children'.
The movie is brief at 85 minutes but to be fair the four or five minutes of credits also contain additional material.
Besides- any longer would have been too much.
Knoxville and co-writers Jeff Tremaine (who also directs) and Spike Jonze get the tone just right.
It must be a difficult thing trading off the control that you lose shooting in this style with the spontaneity that it brings.
Again- credit to Knoxville and Nicoll for their performances.
Much of the humour appears to come from improvisation in dealing with the often awkward situations that they get themselves into.
The look on the face of two removal men who arrive at Irving's house to find that they have been summoned to move his dead wife to the trunk of his car is priceless.
But it's the constant reminders from first Knoxville then Nicoll that they have been accomplices in a crime that makes the scene truly funny.
It could have fizzled badly.
Whether we chalk it up to good fortune, good planning or as I suspect- a decent amount of both- the film works.
I could criticise the pacing and the rushed wrap up but really what's the point?
The most important part of any comedy is how well it delivers the laughs.
If there is a weak story at the centre of it it can diminish this.
In the case of "Bad Grandpa" the story is by design of little importance and even wonky pacing becomes irrelevant while the laughs are coming.
And they do.
Technically much of what is on display here should be highly offensive- scrotums, buttocks and geriatric 'junk' is on display frequently and there are numerous scenes in which Irving and Billy offend people, damage property and put unsuspecting members of the public in very difficult situations.
I defy anyone with a semblance of humour to find the shenanigans anything but entertaining.
Watch for the end credits where there are reaction shots as people have the existence of the cameras revealed to them and note that there are very, very few blurred faces from people unwilling to appear in the final film.
If you watch the trailer you will see all that you need to make a decision on this one.
If you find them funny I guarantee that you will have a blast with the full movie.
I did.
In front of the camera it is just Johnny Knoxville this time though.
The style is still pure Jackass - film outrageous stunts and scenes and make unsuspecting bystanders unknowing accomplices.
I'm not a huge fan of the Jackass movies that preceded this one - I find them uneven with the laughs.
For every toy car in the condom in the colon scene of hilarity there are four or more around it that just don't really work for me.
The formula changes a little with this one in that there is a narrative of sorts at play.
Courtesy of hours of makeup (they eventually got it down to 2 hours & 45 minutes) Knoxville is transformed into eighty six year old senior citizen Irving Zisman.
Filmed over ten months in six cities the film follows Irving as he drives across the US to return his eight year old grandson to the boy's Father to care for while his Mother is in prison.
The plot exists merely to enable a series of stunts and pranks to take place and as such does its job perfectly well.
The film has already done great business in the US already returning over $70,000,000 on a $15,000,000 production budget.
The trailers looked pretty funny to me but because of my history of not particularly enjoying the Jackass movies I was not totally convinced that it was going to be worthwhile.
($10 advanced screening tickets go a ways towards convincing me of course).
Right from the opening scene my fears were somewhat allayed.
The secret weapon in this movie is utilised here- nine year old Jackson Nicoll as Billy.
 |
| Billy and Irving |
Every scene in this movie is at least in part improvised - the actors don't know how people not in on the fact that they are in a movie will react or what they will say.
Nicoll nails every scene and is clearly a young actor to watch.
Johnny Knoxville is an old pro at this of course but that shouldn't take anything away from his performance.
The makeup is exceptional and no doubt helps but he convinces every single person with whom he comes into contact that he is a very old man.
Bear in mind that he is often a mere foot or two away from these people and the makeup cannot be touched up between takes because there are none.
Here is make-up effects man Steve Prouty describing the process....
“The final make-up was 10 pieces, including a bald cap, ears, back of the neck, a wrap that was the neck and cheeks together, a forehead, upper lip, lower lip and backs of hands. We also had a wig, eyebrows, mustache and some hand-laid hair around the ears and back of neck to sell the make-up a bit more. We started putting hair in the ears, because we had to cut a hole in the side of one ear for Johnny’s ‘earwig,’ through which the director would give him directions. That could sometimes be a little obvious, so we ended up adding some hair to his ears, which became a signature of the make-up.”
The humour is exactly what you'd expect - lowbrow in the extreme.
That means nudity designed to shock, fart and poop jokes and completely inappropriate behaviour from go to wo.
And it works.
A farting contest that goes wrong in a diner is a strong contender for the funniest scene and had me close to tears with laughter.
Close second is perhaps the male strip review scene.
Even the moments that don't raise huge laughs entertain through their audacity.
 |
| Not only a truly funny scene but it serves to skewer an abysmal phenomena- the little girl beauty pageant |
Irving entering Billy in a beauty pageant for little girls is not only hilarious in its boldness but delivers a well deserved and revealing skewering to the truly awful event.
It is amazing watching parents shocked as Billy overtly struts to Warrant's 'Cherry Pie' even though it is only a little way more inappropriate than the parading of their own overly made up 'children'.
The movie is brief at 85 minutes but to be fair the four or five minutes of credits also contain additional material.
Besides- any longer would have been too much.
Knoxville and co-writers Jeff Tremaine (who also directs) and Spike Jonze get the tone just right.
It must be a difficult thing trading off the control that you lose shooting in this style with the spontaneity that it brings.
Again- credit to Knoxville and Nicoll for their performances.
Much of the humour appears to come from improvisation in dealing with the often awkward situations that they get themselves into.
The look on the face of two removal men who arrive at Irving's house to find that they have been summoned to move his dead wife to the trunk of his car is priceless.
But it's the constant reminders from first Knoxville then Nicoll that they have been accomplices in a crime that makes the scene truly funny.
It could have fizzled badly.
Whether we chalk it up to good fortune, good planning or as I suspect- a decent amount of both- the film works.
 |
| Vandalism, shoplifting, public underage intoxication.... all in a days work for the Jackass team |
The most important part of any comedy is how well it delivers the laughs.
If there is a weak story at the centre of it it can diminish this.
In the case of "Bad Grandpa" the story is by design of little importance and even wonky pacing becomes irrelevant while the laughs are coming.
And they do.
Technically much of what is on display here should be highly offensive- scrotums, buttocks and geriatric 'junk' is on display frequently and there are numerous scenes in which Irving and Billy offend people, damage property and put unsuspecting members of the public in very difficult situations.
I defy anyone with a semblance of humour to find the shenanigans anything but entertaining.
Watch for the end credits where there are reaction shots as people have the existence of the cameras revealed to them and note that there are very, very few blurred faces from people unwilling to appear in the final film.
If you watch the trailer you will see all that you need to make a decision on this one.
If you find them funny I guarantee that you will have a blast with the full movie.
I did.
| Rated | R16 for language and sexual content |
| Running Time: | 92 minutes (1hr, 25 mins without end credits) |
| Starring: |
| Johnny Knoxville | --- Irving Zisman |
| Jackson Nicoll | --- Billy |
| Georgina Cates | --- Kimmie |
| Zia Harris | --- Chuck |
| Kamber Hejlik | --- Doctor |
| Jill Kill | --- Pageant Reporter |
| Spike Jonze | --- Gloria |
| Catherine Keener | --- Ellie |
| Marion Davis | --- Himself |
| Quintan Duncan | --- Himself |
| Jack Polick | --- Funeral Worker |
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