Review of The Jerk (1979) by Julia D — 25 Nov 2010

I'm mad at this movie it has no right to be funny or work well as a film but somehow it does and then some, it's debatably Martin's best work...I said debatably. Definitely one of his better ones this enjoyable little comedic film from the late 70s directed by legendary funny man and most recently known as Oceans movies star Carl Reiner showcases Steve Martin's somehow humorous brand of stupidity with a style that would be imitated and ripped off for years to come. In fact the idea was retried so poorly in the coming decades you could easily make a case this was the beginning of the end of the golden age of comedies. It's a spoof movie with just enough wit and underlying sensibility to not be dragged down into the shit pile of the rest of its genre. It takes tactful turns into crude humor but never pushes it to the point of unlikeable vulgarity or unpleasantness. It's simple and goes for the lowest common denominator for its audience but you never feel like you're losing brain cells watching it. So what's its secret what makes this a worthwhile stupid spoof movie? Let's take a poor black look.

The movie begins with a strange talking homeless man named Navin Johnson (Steve Martin in one of his sillier roles he actually pulls off though he has a few cameos as other characters too most notably a cat juggler) who slurs...er informs us he is not a bum he is in fact a jerk which I'm sure made sense in 1979. It seems he was born a poor black man (yes still Steve Martin) in Mississippi who discovered to his surprise one day he was adopted. So he struck out hitch hiking to a faraway land to make his fortune. He begins working almost as a slave at a gas station for Mr. Harry Hartounian (Jackie Mason who along with Mel Brooks should be outcast from the Jewish community at this point), an uncooperative truck driver unwise in the ways of hitch hiking interestingly enough or the brief played by Rob Reiner and a man randomly hell bent on killing him all of which lands him in the circus. He will meet his love Marie (Bernadette Peters who's pretty adorable in this) and stumble into a fortune and it basically becomes a spoof of rise and fall movies where the character learns something about themself of Great Expectations like proportions.

This basically serves as a how to for making a good spoof movie but says something about the genre when even it has its weak points. I really enjoyed it as a sort of amusing vacation for my brain but there are still some jokes that fall a bit flat or even if you find them funny or at least the delivery funny in the back of your mind you're urging yourself to preserve some dignity this is toilet humor. But comedies don't have to be smart as long as they're funny they can get by on likeability alone so while I can't say this is a great film or even a great comedy it surely is a worthwhile one. It works as a spoof movie because it respects, hell is affectionate towards its source material. It knows its shit it's clearly seen Citizen Kane and the like and it has come up with an exaggerated and crass story inspired by these movies it so obviously enjoys. It doesn't just take the plot of a movie throw in some characters from similar movies and put in some bad actors and fart jokes for the comedy aspect. Though I suspect that will be too subtle for Epic Movie and its fan base.

So yeah this movie's definitely not genius and even justifiable to hate but for what it's trying to accomplish, a decent spoof film I dare say it's a damn good success. It has an indelible charm, a fantastic performance by Steve Martin, some undeniably funny moments including one involving a Mustang and a church and knows just the right amount of campiness and stupidity to instill before it starts to torture an audience a lesson that it seems viewing this generation's crop of spoof movies has been lost in the sands of time. Even if you don't like it come on, who can deny the scene where Steve and Bernadette sing together while playing the ukulele is just precious I'd download that song.