86-year-old Irving Zisman takes a trip from Nebraska to North Carolina to take his 8 year-old grandson, Billy, back to his real father.86-year-old Irving Zisman takes a trip from Nebraska to North Carolina to take his 8 year-old grandson, Billy, back to his real father.86-year-old Irving Zisman takes a trip from Nebraska to North Carolina to take his 8 year-old grandson, Billy, back to his real father.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 10 nominations total
Jill Killington
- Pageant Reporter
- (as Jill Kill)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJarrod Brom, one of the segment producers on the film, asked his bride-to-be if she would let the production prank their wedding on the condition that none of their friends and family knew what was going on. She only had two stipulations: that the ceremony itself would not be affected, and that her dress would not be harmed.
- GoofsDuring the "poo on the wall" scene, the splatter on the wall moves after Grandpa makes it. Also the woman sitting behind Billy isn't there but then appears when Grandpa and Billy get up to leave.
- Crazy creditsThe end credits have outtakes and behind-the-scenes looks at Johnny Knoxville performing as Irving in the outrageous stunts, and the reactions of all the unknowing extras when the filmmakers pop out to inform them that they're shooting a movie.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Trailer Failure: Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013)
- SoundtracksJust a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody
"Just a Gigolo" Written by Irving Caesar, Julius Brammer and Leonello Casucci
"I Ain't Got Nobody" Written by Roger Graham and Spencer Williams
Performed by David Lee Roth
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing
Featured review
In a world overrun by forgettable, banal reality television, Jackass has distinguished itself as a franchise with unexpected staying power. Who would have thought that a television show about pulling pranks on unsuspecting members of the public would go on to dominate the silver screen as well? That's precisely what Johnny Knoxville and his compatriots have done, however. Bad Grandpa marks the Jackass crew's fourth foray into the realm of feature films. The movie is itself more ambitious than its predecessors, betting that one character - an apparently doddering 86-year-old man - can carry an actual plot and an enormous arsenal of pranks. Surprisingly, it's a gamble that pays off: Bad Grandpa is frequently as funny as it is in bad taste.
The ostensible plot of it all goes something like this: Irving Zisman (Knoxville) is saddled with his grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll) when his flaky daughter is sent to prison and his wife Ellie (Catherine Keener - yes, really!) passes away. Resolving to palm his grandson off to his ne'er-do-well son-in-law, Irving embarks on a road trip across America - an adventure that takes them from strip club to diner, from funeral to beauty pageant, and everything in between. Along the way, they meet people from all walks of life: most of them unsuspecting, several of them kind, all of them pretty good sports.
Much of the thrill of watching Bad Grandpa comes from knowing that it is a hidden-camera comedy - one that draws its greatest laughs and amusement from people who have no clue that Irving isn't actually a senior citizen. Many of the pranks border on the tasteless (Irving gets a crucial body part caught in a vending machine, grandpa and grandson engage in a flatulence contest in a diner with disastrous results), but the horrified looks on the faces of innocent passers-by make it all work. There are even some moments of inspired comic genius: chiefly, the set-pieces that take place in a strip club and at a beauty pageant. (To spoil you any further, dear reader, would be criminal.)
It takes a pair of seasoned performers not to crack and give the game away. Knoxville, of course, has years of experience and bodily injury under his belt, and he is astonishingly good at playing a bawdy old man with very few social (and some might say moral) filters. The great surprise is Nicoll, a child with the most perfectly deadpan of faces - he's hilariously convincing whether he's asking a complete stranger to adopt him or re-enacting a scenario reminiscent of Abigail Breslin's wildly inappropriate grind-bump dance in Little Miss Sunshine.
This is - evidently - very far from great cinema, even though director Jeff Tremaine does actually manage to sneak a little more sentiment and plot into the film than you might expect. But great cinema does not always equate into a fun, brainless night out at the cinema - which Bad Grandpa, if you set your expectations as low as they can go, will almost indubitably provide you.
The ostensible plot of it all goes something like this: Irving Zisman (Knoxville) is saddled with his grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll) when his flaky daughter is sent to prison and his wife Ellie (Catherine Keener - yes, really!) passes away. Resolving to palm his grandson off to his ne'er-do-well son-in-law, Irving embarks on a road trip across America - an adventure that takes them from strip club to diner, from funeral to beauty pageant, and everything in between. Along the way, they meet people from all walks of life: most of them unsuspecting, several of them kind, all of them pretty good sports.
Much of the thrill of watching Bad Grandpa comes from knowing that it is a hidden-camera comedy - one that draws its greatest laughs and amusement from people who have no clue that Irving isn't actually a senior citizen. Many of the pranks border on the tasteless (Irving gets a crucial body part caught in a vending machine, grandpa and grandson engage in a flatulence contest in a diner with disastrous results), but the horrified looks on the faces of innocent passers-by make it all work. There are even some moments of inspired comic genius: chiefly, the set-pieces that take place in a strip club and at a beauty pageant. (To spoil you any further, dear reader, would be criminal.)
It takes a pair of seasoned performers not to crack and give the game away. Knoxville, of course, has years of experience and bodily injury under his belt, and he is astonishingly good at playing a bawdy old man with very few social (and some might say moral) filters. The great surprise is Nicoll, a child with the most perfectly deadpan of faces - he's hilariously convincing whether he's asking a complete stranger to adopt him or re-enacting a scenario reminiscent of Abigail Breslin's wildly inappropriate grind-bump dance in Little Miss Sunshine.
This is - evidently - very far from great cinema, even though director Jeff Tremaine does actually manage to sneak a little more sentiment and plot into the film than you might expect. But great cinema does not always equate into a fun, brainless night out at the cinema - which Bad Grandpa, if you set your expectations as low as they can go, will almost indubitably provide you.
- shawneofthedead
- Jan 15, 2014
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Bad Grandpa
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $15,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $102,003,019
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $32,055,177
- Oct 27, 2013
- Gross worldwide
- $151,826,547
- Runtime1 hour 32 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013) officially released in India in English?
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