Bad Grandpa - Movie Review

Who's in it?

Johnny Knoxville, Spike Jonze and Jackson Nicoll 


What's it about?

When Billy's mother goes to prison for drug offences, Johnny Knoxville's Irving Zisman character from Jackass must drop his Grandson, Billy, (Jackson Nicoll) off with his deadbeat Dad who lives across the country. 

Any Good?

The thing you need to know before going to see Bad Grandpa is that it is NOT a Jackass movie. It's like someone took a film like Borat, removed most of the funny parts but tried to maintain the 'outrageous' qualities that Borat had.

Having watched Jackass 2, 3 and 3.5 on Netflix with de maaaaaa recently (she totally loves them by the way), when I seen a new Jackass movie I was delighted. I don't know what it is about Jackass, but it just seems to be funny to me no matter how stupid the stunts are. Now, Irving was always my least favourite parts of any Jackass, but when Bad Grandpa opened with the dickhouse logo I felt like it might actually be something I'd enjoy, but sadly the whole Jackass 'feel' ends there.

It didn't even have the disclaimer

While there was a few honest laughs in the movie (you'll know them when you see them), I found it unfunny and just a little try hard-y. It was like the movie couldn't decide if it was actually a part of Jackass, or if it was a real movie and this really annoyed me for some reason. It would switch camera types randomly in the movie from hidden cam to movie cam and this was truly off putting for me, if you're making a Jackass movie make a Jackass movie and not a weird hybrid. I had a feeling a lot of the 'encounters' with normal people were staged, as overacted voices and obvious glances down the camera were everywhere.

I think they played SHATNER

I honestly didn't like it at all, and while I didn't find it funny I can understand why other people would. It's crude, vulgar and over-the-top but it sadly isn't Jackass and that really let it down for me. My funniest part of the night was walking out of the cinema and going full politician mode avoiding the question "What did you think?" when talking to the guys from Click on camera and freezing when trying to think of a favourite part of the movie only to have the lovely lady conducting the interview save me by naming one of the more 'outrageous parts' (If, you're reading this, thank you!!)

The (sigh) Eldest Gorgebag

  

Rating: