JACKASS PRESENTS: BAD GRANDPA (5 out of 10) – Starring Johnny Knoxville and Jackson Nicoll; rated R (strong crude and sexual content throughout, language, some graphic nudity and drug use); in general release; running time: 92 minutes.
To paraphrase the best bit from former Vice-Presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen’s now-classic, televised 1988 evisceration of his fellow Vice-Presidential candidate Dan Quayle: Bad Grandpa, we’ve seen Borat. Bad Grandpa, you are no Borat!
If you’ve seen any of the Jackass movies or the MTV series that inspired them, you’ll be familiar with the Bad Grandpa character: misbehaving octogenarian Irving Zisman, who was actually the lead Jackass, Johnny Knoxville, under layers of old-age makeup.
As played by Knoxville, the often-clumsy, frequently foul-mouthed Zisman (and his occasional cohorts, including one played by actor-filmmaker Spike Jonze) got into all sorts of trouble. But it was a rather limited concept that led to hilarity only when it was done infrequently and when it was shown in very small, brief doses.
So perhaps Knoxville and the makers of “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa”realized this was a flawed, limited concept. With the cinematic feature – a “mockumentary” with both actual comic documentary aspects and scripted bit — they attempt to string together a feature-length narrative in a coherent, comic fashion. Admittedly, it’s a ballsy move, and it is a way to get more mileage out of this material than previous attempts.
But as you’d probably expect, the joke eventually wears thin, and the attempts to tell a story don’t really resonate.
Obviously, that’s because Knoxville is no Sacha Boren Cohen, the British comic actor who played Borat so brilliantly, and because the “Bad filmmakers aren’t the canny, sometimes subtle satirists that Cohen’s cohorts were.
Still, to be fair, there are still some really big laughs to be had from this material – at least if you’re not among the easily offended, because this is every bit as outrageous, politically incorrect and downright disgusting as other, earlier Jackass iterations.
In “Bad Grandpa,” Irving and his 8-year-old grandson, Billy (Jackson Nicoll), are traveling cross-country. The widower is supposed to be enjoying the single life, but instead he’s transporting the precocious tyke to his biological father. (Irving’s daughter is about to do time for drug-related activities.)
And, in true Jackass fashion, the two get into all sorts of trouble. At funerals, strip clubs, biker bars, beauty pageants, in public, you name it … They’re doing something wrong. We’re talking really, really, really wrong here.
Again, there are laughs to be had. Unfortunately, the film’s funniest bits have already been given away by the overly revealing ads and trailers, though. A sequence in which Irving persuades to enter a child beauty contest – in drag – while still hilarious, need (Apologies for the spoilers, but if you’ve seen any promotional material for the movie, you had to know it was coming.)
Surprisingly, it’s not Knoxville who gets the lion’s share of these, though, it’s Nicoll, who managed to escape last year’s largely forgotten dud “Fun Size” unscathed. He’s every bit as fearless as his older compatriot, and he has a surprisingly amount of big-screen charisma. The camera loves this kid, and chances are, you will, too, if you’re not offended by his antics.
It should be mentioned that, like the earlier Jackass movies and shows, there are some surprising cameos. (For example, Catherine Keener, who was seen very briefly in this fall’s “Captain Phillips,” is an equally brief presence here.)
Jerk-bot, aka Jeff Michael Vice, can also be heard reviewing films, television programs, comics, books, music and other things as part of The Geek Show Podcast, and can be seen reviewing films as part of Xfinity’s Big Movie Mouth-Off.