JACKASS PRESENTS BAD GRANDPA

SYNOPSIS: left with his young grandson Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) must get the boy to his father, causing chaos and destruction along the way The Jackass movies have never exactly been highbrow comedy (Jackass being the biggest about their brand of humour), despite this they still have managed to find an audience. One of the more popular moments in the first two movies involved star/stuntman Johnny Knoxville donning complex make up and indulging in antics as a foul mouthed old man with an equally foul mouthed grandson. In many ways the main figure in this outing is not Knoxville but Jackson Nicoll as grandson Billy. Put into situations that play his age he proves adept at getting the best comic reactions out of strangers. Some of the film’s best moments are when Billy quizzes strangers on topics and gets some of the movies best reactions. Like movies of its kind before it (Borat, Bruno) the film has a certain contrived feel as it struggles to pull hidden camera stunts and reaction shots into some kind of a story. It has to be said that, given this is coming from the Jackass team, they succeed rather well. Most of the scripted story scenes fit well and are not too numerous to distract from the laughter. Knoxville actually manages to give a decent performance as Zisman in the more emotional scenes. The main problem lies more with the trailer than with the film itself. The film has a moment that is supposed to serve as the films climax ,this moment however is shown in the films trailer and therefore much of the comic value is ruined. In many ways the film feels like it’s playing it safe compared to other Jackass productions. This might have something to do with the presence of eight year old Nicoll (though they seem fine with making him swear etc.) But it leaves the film feeling a little flat, the laughs are there but it feels like the punches are being pulled. FINAL VERDICT 7/10 it may not be on the level of previous Jackass films but it still gets the right reactions.