Sometimes all you need is a little latex, a poop machine and an 8-year-old boy to make one of the funniest movies of the year.
Johnny Knoxville is out to prove that Jackass franchise still has some laughs in it ten years later. He plays a crude 86-year-old Irving Zisman who must drive his grandson across country to his dead beat dad because his crack addict daughter is going to jail. Oh, and his wife just died so they are carrying her dead body in the trunk of the car.
The story is built around a bunch of public gags which are constructed to push the plot along. While some jokes fall flat, many of them bring big laughs including an explosive diarrhea scene that will leave your jaw on the popcorn ridden theater floor and a beauty pageant scene that will have the “victims” in therapy for a couple of years. However, the film does falter when it focuses on the banter between the actors as they transition from one gag to the next.
Eight year old Jackson Nicoll makes up for the lack of the rest of the Jackass crew with spot on comedic timing. While wandering the streets, he makes uncomfortable situations with people passing by including a painfully awkward scene when he deems a stranger his new dad.
The big reveal is saved for the credits when the public actually learns its Knoxville. You learn Nicoll’s parents were on set the entire time and how well everyone took the joke.
If ‘Bad Grandpa’ didn’t get big laughs out of you by the end, you at least had a few good chuckles along the way.
