Figuratively speaking, I was dragged kicking and screaming to Johnny Knoxville’s latest – Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa.
Anybody with half a brain who has had to sit through his execrable ‘Jackass’ indulgences would have felt the same way, so I’ll own up and say that this is not quite as vile as I expected – but only by a hair’s breadth.
One of its saving graces is that it at least has a narrative component, unlike the endless idiocies that made up Knoxville’s previous efforts, and the road trip genre is a format with which his fans should not struggle too much.
Horny old widow Irving Zisman (Knoxville) sets out with Billy (Jackson Nicoll), his eight year-old grandson, his intention being to deliver him to his dad after mum was arrested for drug-dealing.
Their pranksters’ journey is filmed with a hidden camera and, though not my cuppa tea, there is a discernible difference between Jackass’s approach and the mocking superiority of Sacha Baron Cohen.
I love a good fart joke as much as any bloke, and against my better judgment I laughed (and squirmed) when Knoxville got his dick caught in a vending machine, but there is only so much buffoonery a man can take.
The title (will ‘bad’ ever lose its currency among juveniles?) prompts memories of Bad Santa and the mode is very Little Miss Sunshine, but it’s not in the same league as either and is best left for the schoolies.
~ John Campbell
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