Review of The Jerk (1979) by Jacob D — 06 Sep 2011

Before watching "The Jerk" I had only watched two other Steve Martin movies and those were the horrendous "Pink Panther" and "Bringing Down the House". Now, neither of those really made me avoid movies in which Steve Martin stars in, but at the same time I never really went and sought out to watch movies that he was in. Well, thanks to my sister I can finally say I've seen "The Jerk". It took me awhile to get into the movie because at first it's really not my style, but once it got going it was quite hilarious. Martin plays an idiot named Navin who doesn't know he's not black until his adopted Mother tells him. After this he sets out to take on the outside world. This leads to some funny gags and situations that have been labeled as classic. The scenes I enjoyed the most are the ones in which Navin is working at the gas station. During these scenes he plays such a wonderful idiot that I couldn't help but laugh hysterically.

That's not to say this movie is without its fair share of problems. Perhaps the biggest problem was that I thought it felt dated. I think this kept me from fully enjoying the movie and giving it a higher rating. Towards the end of the movie I didn't find anything to be that funny. It was all still silly and amusing, but it didn't do much for me. To me, I felt everything kind of fizzled out and I didn't like that. SPOILERS AHEAD. I know this is supposed to be a light-hearted comedy with a happy ending, and it most certainly has one, but I would have preferred an ending in which Navin is left on the streets. I didn't feel that the ending fit the movie and it kind of ruined the experience a little bit. However, even though "The Jerk" does have its faults it's still probably Steve Martin's best movie and rightfully so. There are some great moments and I'd be lying if I said I didn't find myself entertained, which was the point after all.