Unlike past jackass movies, which followed a vignette style with silly stunts and antics sharing no narrative thread, Bad Grandpa actually has a bit of a story to tell. 86 year old Irving Zisman (Knoxville) is going through the loss of his wife. While most would be in mourning, ol’ Irv is living high on the hog, planning to rekindle his passionate flame (something his late partner extinguished long ago). During the funeral, the brakes get put on those aspirations when his daughter Kimmie (Georgina Cates) informs Zisman she is going back to jail on a drug conviction and needs him to look after her eight year old son Billy (Nicoll). Stunned by this development, Irving contacts “dead beat” dad Chuck (Greg Harris) to look after the child in Kimmie’s absence. After finding out he can get money from the North Carolina state government for being a legal guardian, Chuck accepts. Irving must traverse over 1,000 miles across America’s heartland and southeast from Nebraska to Raleigh in order to make the exchange and free the retiree to live out the rest of his days in peace. Over the journey, the two begin to share a bond. United by a common thread of mischief and mayhem, the excursion becomes one neither will forget. That is, if they make it out alive!
For people who enjoy the franchise, jackass’ brand of comedy is like an extract. It’s concentrated. It’s produced by the blood, sweat, and sometimes tears of the crazy idiots that put their sanity and livelihood on the line for the sake of the camera. For people like me, this produces a laugher that starts deep down and is generally raucous in nature. Bad Grandpa succeeds in finding that humor again. The whole “storytelling” thing seems like a drastic change on paper, but it only serves as a loose bind that connects all of the skits together. It actually works out quite well, and affords something the other five films (if you count the .5 releases) couldn’t, a break from cackling. A sense of pacing, if you will. The best part about this format is that every segment is meant to “prank” unsuspecting innocents. My mom, bless her heart, would watch the show and first couple of movies with my bother and I because, well, we were kids and jackass was cool. Even though most of the “gross out” scenes were obviously not her “cup of tea,” the prank bits like returning a rental car after a stint in a demolition derby or driving through a parking lot with an empty car seat on the roof always prompted hesitant chuckles. That sort of humor IS Irving Zisman. The entire film is dependent upon the candid reactions of innocent bystanders. This is a refreshing change up from the normal routine and offers a slightly different complexion to a time tested formula. jackass fans will be completely on-board before the intertitle hits the screen.
This format puts a burden on Knoxville to “deliver” for an hour and a half without the aid of his cohorts. I was halfway expecting cameos from “Bunny the lifeguard” or an al-Qaeda member with a dynamite vest. Even with no assists, Knoxville is brilliant. It’s easy to see Zisman is one of, if not his, favorite schtick. It allows him the freedom to be a senile old coot and push people to their absolute limit of patience, in respect to the elderly. So when he steals from a convenience store, or goes through the drive thru of a fast food joint in a shopping cart, or makes indecent jokes about his dead wife’s lack of “physical affection,” folks tend to show their good nature and tolerance by offering a helping hand or diffusing the situation without calling the police. Preying on the general goodwill of others is something director and producer Jeff Tremain and Spike Jonze have made a career doing. Bad Grandpa shows they’re still in their prime by cooking up ingenius scenarios for Knoxville and the pleasant surprise of the film Jackson Nicoll. The ten year old’s largest billing before this project was “Little Dicky” in 2010’s The Fighter. After a round of bit parts in a few low budget flicks, Grandpa now stands as his current claim to fame. For what he’s asked to do, he’s excellent. Acting ability will come with time. Things you can’t necessarily teach are wit and screen presence. Nicoll displays these qualities in each of his at-bats. The few occasions when Tremain has him setup with an “earwig” (virtually invisible earpiece) on the street putting people in vulnerable positions yet again, asking off-color questions are priceless moments that should have been more numerous.
A main reason to always have the home release versions of the movies on hand is for the awesome extras. BG doesn’t disappoint in this regard, and offers many pieces. The special features are basically broken down into three categories: Behind-the-Scenes, Alternate Reactions, and Deleted Scenes. The Deleted portion is the most lacking and only has a few choices. The other two are great. Tremain accompanies each of the eight B-t-S segments, offering up the way they planned for the scene to go versus how it really played out as well as their fears and limitations for each; Knoxville gives solid commentary to boot. Alternate Reacts is unique to Grandpa compared to the other franchise entries. Here we see “cutting room” footage of the two mains interacting with the general public. Despite this stuff not making the final version, I laughed just as easily. Knoxville and Nicoll are always on their game, even for stuff that would have been awkward to put in a film. Allowing us to see it anyway is the inherent purpose of an extras section. Thankfully MTV Films and Paramount seem to still understand and embrace this concept.