sol- Not to be confused with the similarly titled Robert De Niro vehicle 'Dirty Grandpa', this earlier comedy starring Johnny Knoxville could be dubbed "Dirtier Grandpa" with gags that are cruder and push barriers even further. The plot revolves around an old man reluctantly taking his grandson on a road trip to meet his estranged father, gradually bonding with him along the way. Simplistic as this may sound, it is admirable that the filmmakers were actually able to create a cohesive narrative here given that the film involves unsuspecting individuals being pranked by the film crew a la 'Borat' and 'Brüno'. Not only that, they are often pranked in quite dangerous ways, with Knoxville forced through a glass window at one point! For a film involving grandfather and grandson though, the film derives a few too many laughs from just the old man for its own good. It is quite telling that the film's absolute best scene involves a child beauty pageant that they crash late in the piece, with the fact that they are both 'in on it' together rendering it such a memorable sequence of events. Knoxville is, however, skilled enough to carry the film in his moments without his youthful co-star, and Oscar nominated makeup or not, his portrayal of a man more than twice his actual age is nothing short of remarkable. This is also one of those rare movies that is worth sitting through the whole end credits for; not only do we get to see Knoxville pre and post makeup, we also get to see the reactions of those pranked after finding out that they are in a candid camera type film.

Screen_Blitz Johnny Knoxville returns for some more crude pranks and gut-busting in this spiritual successor to the Jackass films. Unlike the popular televisions and the movies, this film is accompanied with a storyline about a relationship of an raucous elder man and his grandson. Suited up in prosthetics and heavy make up to give him the looks of an old man, Johnny Knoxville plays Irving Zisman, an 86-year old man who is in the hospital when he learns that his wife has just passed. However, instead of responding the situation with sorrow, he becomes excited now that he is a free man, and is free to party and do whatever he wants. His adventures into his free life become delayed during the funeral when he asked to take care of his eight-year old grandson Billy (played by Jackson Nicoli) and take him to his dad Chuck (played by Greg Harris) in North Carolina, while his mother is doing time in jail for drug usage. Initially against his will, Irving takes Billy on a road trip in which ends up turning into an adventure of hilarious shenanigans and stunts.Filmed in documentary style, much like the television series and movies, this hysterical spin-off presents viewers with a insanely crude, yet funny experience with the two main characters engaging in hilarious pranks and mischief that often results in appalled or amused reactions from extras on screen. Whether it is from young Jackson Nicoli cross dressing as a beauty pageant girl, or Johnny Knoxville going wild at a strip club full of people probably a third of his character's age; it is always funny. Though some of vulgar humor and profane language, some of which come out of the mouth of the eight year old, is enough to turn some viewers off, it often plays out to make viewers laugh their heads, and aims to be intentionally vulgar, although some people tend to see it that way. Those who are less entertained by the hilarious, but envelope-pushing pranks may find most amusement out of the shocked and disgusted reactions of the people on screen. Johnny Knoxville plays his character out pretty well and the same thing can be said for Jackson Nicoli. They present their characters with such amazing comedic chemistry.Bad Grandpa may go a bit overboard at times, but it is a faithful and stunningly hilarious spiritual successor to the Jackass films, and Jeff Tramaine does a great job directing this. This is definitely one of the funniest comedies I have seen in recent years.

Bryan Kluger 'Jackass' is back! Well, sort of. Johnny Knoxville has re-teamed with his 'Jackass' crew, including director Jeff Tremaine, to make a new movie centered on his character Irving Zisman, an elderly man who steals, curses, and fools real people into thinking that he's harmed himself by doing a variety of stunts and gags. Also, he likes to show off his 12-inch sagging scrotum to anyone who walks by. Mixing in a narrative story with real pranks on real people, 'Bad Grandpa' is like 'Borat' with the 'Jackass' brand. And man, does it work. I haven't laughed so hard in a movie theater in a long time.If you've seen any of the 'Jackass' movies, you should know that the Irving character is raunchy, vulgar and not above putting himself in harm's way. The narrative story here features a kid named Billy (Jackson Nicoll) whose mother is about to start a prison sentence for drugs and other felonies. She gives the kid to her father Irving (Knoxville) in the middle of the funeral ceremony for his recently deceased wife. She tells him to drive Billy across country to be with his father. Needless to say, Billy's father is no prized human either. He sells drugs and stolen electronics.Billy and Irving embark on a long road trip with many misadventures along the way. The movie is mostly shot with hidden HD cameras, as Knoxville captures real people and their real reactions to his gags, which are often very funny. From Irving getting his schlong stuck inside a vending machine to Billy posing as a girl in a toddler beauty pageant, all of the pranks had me laughing 'til I cried. Yet there's less of a gross-out factor than the other 'Jackass' movies. Instead, we get comically awkward moments with real people at their jobs, such as Irving trying to overnight Billy in a package at the post office.What works here is the chemistry between Knoxville and Nicoll. The boy is far advanced from his actual age, and can keep up with Knoxville's antics and improvisations. He's a cute kid and is genuinely funny throughout. As for Knoxville, he amps up his Irving character to 11 and never holds back. Although I wasn't too sure about making a whole movie about this character, I was pleasantly surprised at how funny it turned out.

Finfrosk86 A lot better than I thought. Not that I didn't think it was going to be simple fun, bur this movie kind of surprised me.I knew rather little about it, I pretty much only knew it was from the "Jackass-people". And so I guess I thought it would be more like Jackass. But this is a movie. It is actually made like a movie, with acting and stuff. And it really works. The goal of a movie like this is to be entertaining and to make the viewer laugh and cringe. And you know, it does just that!Some of the scenes are painful to watch, because it is filmed among real people. It's a funny and effective mix of a movie and hidden camera. It works.The kid is great! Johnny Knoxville is also good, the makeup is awesome, but the kid! Good job!Some of it might be staged and scripted, but you can normally see, with ease, if a reaction is real or not, and I think most of the reactions here are real.