Bad Grandpa is a hilarious serving of Irving

If you’re a fan of the Jackass franchise, then you have more than likely seen Johnny Knoxville covered in old age prosthetics to portray the dirty old man Irving Zisman. Irving is known for making lewd comments to unsuspecting ladies, crashing through plate glass windows and generally causing some kind of mayhem for the hidden cameras. It’s like an R-rated version of Betty White’s Off Their Rockers.

Now that the Jackass crew has gotten a bit older and more fragile — and the death of Ryan Dunn still hovers over the group — they may have decided to stop torturing each other with insane practical jokes, but that hasn’t stopped Knoxville from bringing Irving to the big screen in his own feature film, Bad Grandpa. In the movie, which actually has a bit of a plot rather than a random stringing-together of stunts and pranks, Irving’s wife has just passed away, his daughter is off to jail and grandson Billy needs transportation to North Carolina to live with his dad. The only affordable transport is Irving, so they put grandma in the trunk and head eastward, causing various forms of mayhem along the way.

Your enjoyment of Bad Grandpa will entirely depend on how high your tolerance level is for being offended. The film runs the gamut from Billy making inappropriate comments to various people (he insists on calling a woman who works at an adult bookstore a hooker, and he decides her name is Cinnamon) to Irving having a very unfortunate accident in a diner. Yes, the shit literally hits the wall. It’s crass and tasteless, but it’s also damned funny as well (if you’re prone to laugh at that kind of thing). Some of the other highlights include Irving deciding to join in on a male strip show and completely horrifying the patrons of the bar, grandma’s funeral, and Billy being entered into a Little Miss pageant and breaking into a pole dancing number, horrifying the moms in the audience. What’s most shocking is how great Billy is at pole dancing. It’s a priceless moment.

Through all the hidden camera hi-jinks, the film manages to stick to its storyline, keeping Knoxville and the boy (Jackson Nicoll) in character when they’re not pranking the unsuspecting locals. There are actually some heartwarming moments between the two as Billy keeps trying to convince his grandpa that he’d rather stay with him than go live with his dad (who is a real piece of work, seeing Billy only as a monthly paycheck from the government). When Irving finally leaves Billy with his dad, you may find yourself even more surprised at how emotional the scene is. There is also a wonderfully funny moment that appears to be an unscripted bit as Jackson makes a comment that totally cracks Knoxville up.

Bad Grandpa is basically a hidden camera movie with a plot. While you’re watching the pranks unfold, you’re left wondering how the people reacted when it was revealed that they were unwitting participants in an elaborate prank. Thankfully, those questions are answered during the end credits as all of the major targets are let in on the joke. It’s not something you normally see in these hidden camera movies, made popular by Sasha Baron Cohen, but it’s fun to see how people react when they realize the old man is Johnny Knoxville and the sense of relief they have when they realize what they just witnessed was not a crazy old man causing such mayhem.

The movie as a whole is a little hit and miss, but most of the major prank scenes will have you gasping for air and wiping away tears of laughter. It’s definitely not for everyone — and you know who you are — but if you can get past some of the more risqué moments, you’ll find that Bad Grandpa makes for some big laughs and a good night at the movies.