The Jerk (1979)

The Jerk
Directed by Carl Reiner
Written by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, and Michael Elias
1979/US
IMDb Page
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Navin R. Johnson: Are you a model?
Marie: No. I’m a cosmetologist.
Navin R. Johnson: Really? A cosmetologist? That’s unbelievable. That’s impressive. Must be tough handling the weightlessness.

I hate comedies that try to make us laugh with stupid jokes and gags. This film is a giant exception.

As the movie begins Navin R. Johnson (Steve Martin) is a bum on skid row. He tells us the story of his life as the film segues into flashback. Navin was raised by poor black sharecroppers in the South believing he was their birth child. On his birthday, his mother informs him he was adopted. He determines to make his own way through the world.

We follow Martin through a couple of jobs – in a gas station and with a carnival. He is incompetent at everything he does. And when a sniper wants to shoot a random stranger he chooses him. After this adventure, he meets his first love Marie (Bernadette Peters).

She thinks he’s cute and further inspires him to bigger and better things. He invents a glasses frame called “Opti-Grab” that earns his fortune before it takes it away. With Maurice Evans in his final film performance as a butler and M. Emmet Walsh as a sniper.

This is a very, very dumb movie. I can’t imagine just why I find it so hilarious. Maybe it’s the slightly intellectual approach to low humor. And Martin and Peters, who were an item IRL at the time, are adorable together.

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