Bad Grandpa

Writer/Director Jeff Tremaine’s Bad Grandpa is a laugh-out-loud riot, starring Johnny Knoxville as 86-year-old Irving Zisman, who is taking his 8-year-old grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll) across country to the boy’s father, since Irving’s daughter is going to jail for crack usage.  Oh, and Irving’s dead wife is taken along in the car’s trunk so he can, eventually, honor her off-hand wish to have her body thrown off a bridge.

The film is shot in Candid Camera-style with real-life people being roped into the gags that Tremaine and Company have set up along the way.  And, for the most part, the gags are hilarious!

 Thanks to Special Makeup Designer Tony Gardner and the rest of the Makeup staff, Knoxville totally looks the part and is able to get away with antics the unsuspecting non-actors might only let a grandpa get away with.

Because of the cute story with the precocious young Billy,  this film is better than the previous Jackass movies.  The only issue I have is that some of the segments should have been cut a little sooner.  The Editor is uncredited and I suspect it was a group effort that could have used an impartial eye.

If you want to have a fun time, see Bad Grandpa.  I give it a 4 out of 5.