User Reviews

This is so much funnier than it should be. There were times in this movie that I just could not stop laughing. The people are all real, only the boy, and Knoxville and a select few are plants, the rest of this is like an insane episode of Just For Laughs out of Montreal, or the little shorts you see on a Jackass movie, just going on for the whole movie. Mostly skits like Letterman would do, but some far more toward the Chris Elliott side. You will hate yourself for laughing at parts of this movie, and there is just no getting around that, it is the basest humour, but it is done so well, and with that kid making everything feel just that little bit worse. I really Enjoyed this movie, I did not think I would, I was not expecting this sort of thing when I started watching it, and was surprised that the format is so much like Borat even, just not quite as far (or further)depends on your views. I would bet though no matter who you are, or how delicate your sensibilities, there is something in this movie that will have you on the floor, or at least holding your sides, and gasping for air. Anything that makes me laugh this hard gets a 10 as long as I was able to hold down my lunch. (a point was nearly lost, and so was my lunch)

Jesse of www.jesse.ca

In 2000 a show started airing on MTV that had a group of guys performing stunts. These were not just regular stunts, these were stunts that required a "don't try this at home warning" before every show. I never was a fan, or I thought I wasn't, the problem was I never actually sat down and watched it. Well it was such a success the guys took their antics to the big screen, and that is where I discovered the joy of Jackass. Johnny Knoxville can take a hit, as well as everyone in his crew. Now, while some things border on disgusting, in the end you can do nothing but laugh at just how far these guys will go. Unlike the previous movies/ TV show, "Bad Grandpa" is a different approach, but provides just as many laughs. Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) has just lost his wife. To make things more complicated, his daughter drops off his grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll), so that Irving can take him to his father who lives cross country. The deal is, it's all fake. The purpose of the trip is to catch people's reaction to everything from stealing, destroying property, and even crashing a kid beauty pageant. They do this all while having Irving's dead wife in the trunk. It is all done for laughs, and trust me you will have plenty of those as you watch this movie. It is easy to be like how I was before I actually watched these guys in action and judge them as idiots. In the end they may be idiots, but they will make you laugh, and at times cry. I know these movies are not for everyone, but for those of you who go see it, you will have a great time. You get to see a picture of Middle America and the many characters we have living in this great country. I haven't laughed as hard in a movie in a long time, and I have seen a lot of so called comedies this year alone that did very little to bring the funny. So don't be like me, don't judge this book by its cover. Go see "Bad Grandpa" because the world is a much better place with laughter, and this movie provides plenty of it. Brian Taylor

Bad Grandpa is a hidden camera comedy movie, written and directed by the creators of Jackass: Johnny Knoxville, Spike Jonze and Jeff Tremaine. I always considered Jackass to be silly in an unfunny way, and I was never much of a fan of pranks in general, so I was immediately turned off by Bad Grandpa. Also, the second main actor in this movie is a child, and pranks with children are usually the cheapest and least funny ones, since authors know they can make the kid say/do anything and always get a reaction from adults. In short, this movie looked like another comedic failure to me, but amazingly it proved to be very funny and entertaining. The story is fairly simple: Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) is an 86 years old man whose wife has just died, and that makes him very happy, since he's now free to pick up young women. Unfortunately, his joy is soon ruined, as his daughter leaves her son – Irving's grandson – Billy (Jackson Nicoll) with him because she's being sent to jail for drug use. Irving is supposed to take Billy to his father, and he accepts just to get rid of the kid, even if he doesn't like the kid's father – and so, a quasi-road trip movie begins. The story isn't really that important, since this is a hidden camera movie, but it's nice to see that the writers didn't just dismiss the story for that reason and didn't make this movie a collection of unfunny and loosely connected sketches that are going nowhere (like Grown ups 2). Jackson Nicoll, who plays Billy, is one of the best child actors I've seen in a long time. He's extremely convincing and talented, and even if you don't like kids (in general or in movies), you'll end up loving Billy. Knoxville is great as the ever-horny, foul mouthed old man, especially as he manages not to laugh at all of the sketches he put up and, in case some of you haven't realized this, he's completely shameless: for example, he agreed to pretend to have his penis stuck in a vending machine, among other things! There aren't any other (relevant) actors in the movie, but the people's reactions to the pranks are priceless. No "real" movie could have created such great comedy, because an actor's reactions are rarely so well enacted, spontaneous and sincere. Like, if someone tried to mail a child and the post office employees found that out, in a movie they would immediately call the police. In Bad Grandpa, after finding out just that, one of the two employees just stood there confused, while the other tried to explain politely that they "cannot mail a person". I loved the (intentional?) social criticism in the beauty pageant scene. Irving dresses Billy like a girl and enrolls him in a pageant for little girls, hoping to win the first prize that is $5000. While performing, Billy's dance song suddenly changes to "Cherry pie" by Warrant, he takes his clothes off and starts pole dancing in just panties, a bra and stockings. You can see all the other contestants' mothers staring shocked and in disbelief, as if what they were doing to their daughters was any better. or less embarrassing and degrading. In conclusion, I don't know why everybody seems to hate this movie: there are just a few fart jokes in it, everything they do is really funny, and there's even a story you can follow and characters you can learn to love. If you want to have fun and you haven't seen Bad Grandpa yet, do it, because you're guaranteed to laugh for the entire duration of the movie! Rating: 8/10

On the imprisonment of his daughter, recently widowed octogenarian Irving has to take his grandson Billy cross-country to be reunited with his no-account father. Irving regards his newly changed marital status as not so much bereavement, more an opportunity to resume skirt-chasing, so he is not pleased about having this errand imposed on him. And he does not initially appear to be the best role model a youngster could have...

Bad Grandpa is a series of hidden camera set ups strung on a loose plot. Apart from Johnny Knoxville (and some excellent prosthetics) as Irving, the wonderful 8-year old Jackson Nicholl as Billy, and a handful of other actors in minor supporting roles, this film stands on the routines themselves, the reactions of the public, and the ability shown by the two principals to extemporise around a predetermined scenario.

Let me say this: Bad Grandpa is tasteless, and contains a great deal of sexual material (verbally, at least), a distinct lavatorial bent, some bad language and, quite possibly the corruption of a minor. If you regard these as bad points - and as someone who is fairly old school, I have leanings towards disapproving of this kind of stuff - then it may be worth staying away.

Which might be a pity, because it is frequently laugh-out-loud funny, the bad language and dirty talking is beautifully florid, imaginative, picturesque, constructive, and very funny (as opposed to foul language for the sake of foul language, which I deplore), and the relationship between Irving and Billy, which is at the heart of the minimal plot, is charming and develops nicely through the film.

I enjoyed this hugely but, oh boy, did I feel guilty afterwards!

Honestly, in my opinion, this movie wasn't so bad. It wasn't really that dumb when you think about it. While, it didn't shoehorn much of a moral story. It did had some to work with all the empathy. Directed by Jeff Tremaine, this film had a lot of character development between the 86 year old Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) and his grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll) throughout the film, as both find themselves closer through all the hijinx of their cross-country trip. Irving find himself, taking care of his grandson, Billy after Billy's mother was sent to jail for drugs. Irving, who doesn't wish to take care of the boy, seeks to return the boy to his father half way across the country. While, Irving Zisman indeed is a pretty bad grandpa who is trying loosen up after the death of his wife. At less, he is care more about the kid than the kid's father who wants him only for the money. We see the movie get very smart toward the end as Irving realize better, and with the help of the biker gang, Guardians of the Children seek out to reclaim the boy. Let's remember that the writer was indeed Spike Jonze known for some really smart films out there like 2009's Where the Wild Things Are and 2013's Her. Indeed, this movie might have the 'Jackass Presents' on the title, but it seems to me that the movie has mature enough to be watchable. Still, there are some faults of the film, I didn't find so much. First off, Johnny Knoxville acting chops. Unlike, Sasha Baron Cohen's 2006's hit 'Borat', the character of Irving Zisman doesn't really jump out on me. I found myself, watching Johnny Knoxville in old man make up acting horny rather than Irving. It didn't help that Johnny Knoxville's Irving sounds like his normal voice. I'm surprised that not a lot of people couldn't notice it was him in the film with all that make up. It's unlike the character, Borat who is from a British show that a lot of Americans didn't watch. The character of the grandpa was a signature character in the show 'Jackass', and the series of movies after it. People in Middle America had to saw 'Jackass' at less once in their lives. The film even tries to relive the charm of seeing an old guy trying to shoplift again. A lot of the most insane hidden camera pranks in this film is pretty funny. The scene with the male stripper got me laughing the most. The less funny scene for me is the fishing at the golf scene. I think the trailer for this film kinda ruin the child beauty pageant part of the film as it pretty much show the funniest part of the film so seeing it again wasn't new. They should had save those scenes to be shown later. The movie was fun and so enjoyable. Still, I did think the ending of this film did cop out and copied 2006's Little Miss Sunshine in many ways, not only with the pageant part, but the idea of moving a dead body illegally in your trunk. It was bit cheap. Another thing about the film is how fake some of the people on film reaction to the stunts or pranks. It seems like some scenes were at least partially scripted since the cameras were following him very closely for the audio. I believe they really did try to use real people, but when the scene didn't turn out the way they liked they reshot it using the same people and then it became more of an acted scene. Some other scenes look like it had paid actors acting like they were prank on such as the penguin scene. They probably did that with most of the movie and used a mixture of real scenes with staged incredibly setup scenes. So that is why some of the jokes fall flat. Yes, some people were on the prank, but it shows that after the credits, the people who weren't in on the prank getting notified that they were filming a movie. Every scene there are actual camera crews walking with the cast except for a few scenes. Then the film has scene has about 4-6 different clear camera angles so it's hard to believe that the people didn't realize they were being filmed prior to the stunt. At less, in Borat, they made the excuse for the cameras being presented because Borat was making a documentary about America. Here in this film, there is little reason why they are there. The film had little suspension, and pretty predictable outcomes. It's hard to take this film seriously, anyways, because it was a bit over the top. Yes, some of the humor was pretty gross. Now, saying that, I did have a couple good laughs despite the potty humor. Some critics got anger because they think the filmmakers were exploiting the young actor that played Billy. Maybe, a little bit. It was kinda risky to ask a child to do an adult like strip show. Still, it's no different than Toddlers and Tiaras. It's so perverted both ways that it deserved to parody on. People need to come off their high horses. Bad or good, this movie provides what movies were made for; escapism. Some people just want to shut their brains off for 90 minutes and laugh. Intelligence people have been enjoying cheap, violent and low brow comedy for decades. It's not the film worth over analyzing about it. Just a fun little film to dumb down to.

There were many pranks and stunts in the Jackass franchise (TV show and movies) with the front man disguised as an old man, "bad grandpa", an old man acting and talking foul with his grandson, featured in Jackass 2, and was turned into a film, in similar style to Borat, and I was looking forward to it. Basically, the wife of eighty-six-year-old Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) has passed away. At the funeral, his daughter Kimmie (Georgina Cates) shows up with Irving's eight-year-old grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll). She is going back to prison for breaking parole and she needs him to take the child to be with his father until she is released. Irving reluctantly agrees and with a counsellor talks to his son Chuck (Greg Harris), Billy's father, via webcam to explain the situation. Chuck initially refuses to take the child, but his girlfriend comes in mentioning child support, so he agrees to meet in Raleigh, North Carolina in a few days to take him. Before leaving, Irving sells some of Ellie's stuff, and he asks two men to help him get her body in his trunk to take and bury her somewhere properly. He and Billy get in the car and start driving. Stopping for food, the old man ends up shot in a kiddie ride through a store window. Frustrated, Irving tries to ship the boy in a box, but the post office women refuse to deliver anything living, so he agrees to take him on the road. Irving stops on the way for a game of bingo, trying to hit on many women there, drinking ink from marker pens and getting out a margarita maker. Billy meanwhile tricks a man into helping tie his shoe laces and trying to get him to adopt him. Irving and Billy next get into trouble trying to steal food from a store, opening and eating from packets. After being let go, they stop at a motel, with their neighbour seeing Ellie's corpse being pulled from the trunk. Irving wants to go to a strip club, but he misunderstands a "ladies only" sign and is surrounded by many male strippers. There, he tries to make a move on the women as a performer himself, taking his clothes off and letting his long testicles dangle. The following morning, Billy goes looking for him at strip clubs and an adult store, telling an employee she looks like a stripper. Back on the road, they stop again at a diner, with the old man hitting a large penguin statue with the car. In the diner, Billy asks his grandpa why he has to be with his father when he doesn't like him. They bond while farting, but Irving follows through and defecates on the wall. They leave and bond playing baseball and doing other fun activities. They sneak into a wedding reception for some free food, and cause a disaster. Eventually, they make it to Raleigh, Chuck is there waiting at a bar. In the bar, there are also biker organisation the Guardians of Children, who help abused kids. Irving bids his grandson a sad farewell, having bonded with him during their time on the road. GOC members notice Chuck's bad attitude towards his son. Irving drives away and reminisces on his time with Billy, and realises his mistake, driving bacl to the diner. Chuck tries to fight with his father and keep the boy for the benefits, but the biker gang hold him back and allow the grandpa and grandson to leave together,. Irving accidentally hits the gang's motorcycles while driving away. To celebrate their reunion, Irving and Billy decide to crash a child beauty pageant, with Billy dressing as a girl. He initially charms the judges and worries the competition, but makes a final performance dressed as a stripper pole and does a risqué dance to "Cherry Pie" by Warrant, until his wig falls off, revealing he is a boy, and they flee. In the end, Irving and Billy stop on a bridge, throwing Ellie's body over into the river, she sarcastically said that was where she wanted to go after she dies, and the grandfather and grandson start fishing. Outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage plays during the end credits, including the reactions after the pranks on the members of the public. Also starring Spike Jonze as Gloria and The 40 Year-Old Virgin's Catherine Keener as Ellie Zisman. The film is dedicated to Ryan Dun, who died in a drink driving crash. The loose story within the hidden camera action is simple and works well, Knoxville is funny under the great makeup, and Niccol is cute and naughty, they have terrific chemistry. But it is the setups, with smashing stunts, bodily functions, naughty dialogue, and over-the-top moments (the beauty pageant was already creepy enough) that will make you almost wet your pants laughing, a hilarious hidden-camera comedy. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Good!

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013): Dir: Jeff Tremaine / Cast: Johnny Knoxville, Jackson Niccol, Georgina Cates, Greg Harris, Jill Kill: From the Jackass brand comes more disgusting humour that includes a penis caught in a soda machine, feces splattered all over a restaurant wall after passing gas gone wrong, or even a child pageant where old Irving convinces his grandson Billy to dress up in drag to perform a strip tease to the shock of everyone. We have all seen elderly of similar attitudes. Irving's wife just passed away and he is more than delighted at his never-too-late freedom until little Billy is put in his care by his daughter Kimmie who is off to jail because of drugs. He decides to transport him across country to the real father who is another drug dealing loser. Of course, Irving and Billy will end up bonding while travelling with grandma's corpse in the trunk. This is just a series of crude physical hijinks weaved together within a thin story that conceals charm. Director Jeff Tremaine has directed all the Jackass films to which only the first is worthwhile. Johnny Knoxville knocks it out of the park as Irving whose testicles dangle out in a strip bar. The makeup is convincing and lends to the charm. Jackson Niccol steals moments as the daring Billy only looking for acceptance. In amusing supporting roles are Georgina Cates as conniving Kimmie and Greg Harris as Chuck the intoxicated father. Jill Kill plays a pageant host who is in for a surprise. Theme regards how elderly seem to get away with the most outrageous behavior despite how bad. Score: 8 / 10

Irving Zisman takes charge of his Grandson when he has to take him on a cross country trip to his father.

Problem is, the mother has gone to jail, the father only wants the kid for the welfare, and Irving has just lost his wife, so he's not in the best of moods....

Yes we've seen the hidden camera movie before. jackass, Borat, Bruno et al,but surprisingly this has to be one of the funniest of the sub genre.

The stunts are a little over the top. And the ones you expect big laughs from are a little overdrawn, but it's the small stunts when Irving is talking to the general public that are genuinely funny. The bingo hall scene is laugh out loud funny, and the best scene, while concludes the main narrative, set in the bikers bar is wickedly delicious.

But it's not just an out and out comedy, its a clever exploitation movie, a damning social commentary of the state of the social climate today.

We may laugh, but when an elderly person is in distress, people choose to record hi. On their phones, rather than help. And what 25 year old man in their right mind would threaten an eighty something?.

So all in all its hilarious, with the smaller laughs proving much funnier than the bigger stunts, and it's surprisingly touching too.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday morning

Irving Zisman's (Johnny Knoxville) wife of many years dies, which is a bit of a bummer, only for him to find his white trash daughter hoisting his young grandson on him, leading to an outrageous cross country ride where Irving finds himself struggling to dispose of his wife's body after a misunderstanding.

One of the characters who stood out from the sketch laden Jackass films most memorably was the 'Bad Grandpa', an outrageously mischievous old duffer whose very presence was so absurd as to crack you up. It struck me as a great idea to give him his own feature length film, even if the pressure was on to keep the laugh quotient up and not let the formula wear itself out. This film version doesn't fail on either count, a full blooded assault on the senses that throws taste, decency and any sort of political correctness to the dogs (child neglect has never been so funny.)

The plot is as apathetic as to be expected, just something it needed to stop it becoming just a messy selection of clips, and from this we're left to cackle on as the title character's exploits become progressively more outrageous and unbelievable. It's a lazy, ready made approach to comedy that does get more laughs by being as puerile and juvenile as it can be, rather than by giving us anything really inspired or thought out, but anyone who goes to see it is probably already well aware of this. It adopts the same approach as Sascha Baron Cohen's film versions of his characters, where the camera follows the main character on his journey around the States, and as such there is an attempt to give the film some heart and sentimental scenes, but they never over shadow the main aim of the game or feel like they're overly tugging at the heart strings.

Everything it says on the tin, and you wouldn't want it any other way. ****