Jackass film becomes old at ninety minutes
Unlike the previous three “Jackass” films released, “Bad Grandpa” has a plot of sorts. Johnny Knoxville disguises himself in convincing old-man makeup as 86-year-old Irving Zisman and travels with Jackson Nicoll playing his 8-year-old grandson, Billy. Zisman must take his grandson to live with his deadbeat father because the child’s mother is in jail. Zisman’s wife dies at the beginning of the film and after a disastrous funeral, the octogenarian throws her in the trunk of his car and starts driving his pint-sized grandson from Nebraska to North Carolina.
A number of the bits are given away in the trailer, so do not watch the ads if you have not already. After saying what the threadbare plot is and not wanting to spoil the jokes, it comes down to if the audience laughed or not. The first and third Jackass films all had their moments that were laugh-out-loud funny and other bits that were not. Sometimes the idea sounds better on paper than actually performed. The second film, “Jackass Number Two,” is the best in the series. Most of the pranks and gags work and there is a inspired insanity to some of them. It is the film that holds up the best at 90 minutes. The other films, including “Bad Grandpa,” really wear their welcome out well before the hour mark. Some comedy works better in small doses, such as The Three Stooges, “Reno 911!,” and “MXC.” With “Bad Grandpa,” there was only one laugh-out-loud moment for this audience member. e predictable or appeared in the trailer, and the final gag is stolen right out of “Little Miss Sunshine.” It really says something about a film when the biggest laugh involves someone farting and defecating.
Big props go to Jackson Nicoll for keeping a straight face and not breaking character. Knoxville is a pro at this, but Nicoll holds his own and makes a successful comic sidekick. He helps sell the bits. Otherwise, people would have seen through Knoxville more often.
Part of the reason the film did not produce that many laughs is because it is almost too nice. Not much will have to be censored or cut when it is aired on network television. Grandmothers could watch most of the scenes. One definitely would not want to show their grandparents most of the scenes from the other Jackass films. Those films are rampantly crude, disgusting and infantile and often rely on pain and humiliation. “Bad Grandpa” relies more on “Candid Camera”-style pranks where the reactions of the people around them are a big part of the joke. After seeing Steve-O put a large fishing hook through his cheek and jump into the ocean with sharks in “Jackass Number Two,” most of the jokes in “Bad Grandpa,” like its protagonist, seem antiquated and tame.