The Jerk

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R T @crillovision 5d The team of Carl Reiner and Steve Martin made four comedies that are near pitch perfect in both yok deliveries and concepts hitherto unexplored. The Jerk started off the parade and is probably the best introductory flick for a new to the screen comedian I can think of, although Dangerfield's "Easy Money" is in the same league. The title character embodies the onstage Martin - you know the guy with the arrow through his head. He is the perfect fool and throughout never flinches from going full bore. There are so many original catch phrases throughout but my favorite is still "It's not about the money - it's about the stuff". I suspect most comedians having the success Martin had with this would have run with the same type character in follow-up films but next for him and his director was the brilliant "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid". The rest of his career has always been involved in almost highbrow comedy by comparison but here he shines in antics straight from vaudeville or silents. See more Melissa M @Lisey Jun 21 Navin Johnson is a poor black child. On his birthday he gets his favorite meal a tuna fish sandwich 2 Twinkies, Tab & the truth. That night he hears big band music. He decides he wants to go out into the big world. His family tells him the difference between shinola & you know what. While staying at a fleabag motel he finds a dog that is more clueless than him. His 1st job is at a gas station. After an offbeat conversation with an inventor & run in with a gun toting maniac who Navin thinks hates cans. He runs away with the circus. He meets Patty who helps him find his special purpose. After his offbeat meet-cute with Marie. They have a on again off again relationship. Navin goes from rags, to filthy rich, back to rags but with a bigger shack. The movie has some gratuitousness, the n word, & cat juggling. But it also has Navin donating money to stop cat juggling, Marie & Navin's silly serenade to each other, The Thermos Song, Navin's humble narration of how he became The Jerk. See more Ricky M. @RT93491117 Apr 28 Had a weird Forest Gump vibe. Half decent movie though. See more Phil H. @PapercutsAndJumpcuts Feb 18 The Jerk is basically Steve Martin asking how long pure stupidity can stay funny… & then proving the answer is “a very long time, but not forever.” The movie runs on jokes that shouldn’t work and somehow keep escalating instead of wearing out. Martin’s Navin isn’t innocent so much as immune to self-awareness, the ol’ SNL template… which turns every setback into momentum. Some bits absolutely date themselves, but the rhythm never does. And the comedy comes from commitment, not cleverness. It’s not deep, it’s not tidy, & it absolutely doesn’t care… which is exactly why it still (mostly) lands. See more Brent H @BrentMHinson Oct 29 I grew up watching "The Jerk" so much that, to this day, I continue to quote lines from it with my mother. At its core, and what makes it so great is that it's a classic fish-out-of-water story. We see the innocence of Martin's "Navin Johnson" character as he experiences life outside of his sheltered existence and watch as he falls victim to the spoils of the materialistic world. Yes, it's funny to laugh as he stumbles and falls through various events in his life, but maybe we're laughing because, at some point or another, we've fallen victim to the harshness of the real world like Navin. Nowadays, Steve Martin is known for being more of the "straight man" in his comedic roles, but here, he goes all-in with the kind of laughable slapstick humor that made him so popular in the mid-to-late seventies. I watched "The Jerk" with my 18-year-old son. While he found it likable, he wasn't accustomed to seeing Martin in roles outside the type of characters he had played in movies like "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" or "Parenthood." Maybe there's a generational disconnect because, after seeing it over 20 times (probably more than that), I still belly-laugh at jokes and scenes I've seen so many times I could reenact them word-for-word myself. So, if you haven't figured it out by this point, I love this movie and heavily encourage you to see it if you've never experienced the genius of this film. See more Kyle M @RT77296778 Aug 28 A bland joke whereas Harrison Ford and Carl Reiner’s cameos are the only highlights when Steve Martin debuted his comedic star vehicle on imaginative fuel with contrived engines in demeaning form that meaninglessly gasses his co-stars. (C-) See more Read all reviews

The Jerk

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