Review of Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013) by Tom M — 28 Mar 2014

Cleverly combining "candid camera" antics with a "road trip" movie story idea, "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa" is goofy, stupid, silly and utterly charming fun. Just trying to integrate a story into all of this is funny enough but lead actors Johnny Knoxville (as grandpa) and Jackson Nicoll (as the kid) are so watchable and mesh so well, that combined with it all, it makes a very entertaining and almost sentimental comedy romp. Even if the story is a loose and flimsy one, adding the fun.

You have to compliment the production's idea of not just making another series of gross gag stunts, but actually trying hard to hook story and character onto this thing. That puts it a notch above a gross sophomoric romp, and pushes "Bad Grandpa" into the realm of something that's actually almost a family film. The chemistry of the leads and wild interactions with the people they meet on the trip are certainly entertaining. The odd part about the movie is that the audience is both in on the gag, and yet following a story too. Really strange, but it actually works.