After discovering he's not really black like the rest of his family, likable dimwit Navin Johnson sets off on a hilarious misadventure that takes him from rags to riches and back again. The slaphappy jerk strikes it rich, but life in the fast lane isn't all it's cracked up to be and, in the end, all that really matters to Johnson is his true love.
Similar titles
You May Also Like
Reviews
I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Best movie ever!
Awesome Movie
Admirable film.
The Jerk – Carl ReinerA lovable loser and the constant hijinks that lead him from the bottom all the way up to the top back unto the bottom again.Steve Martin plays Navin Johnson a non-coordinated young white man born and raised under the roof of a black family in rural Mississippi. A story experimenting with the age-old tale of an adopted son or daughter and his or her quest towards finding out who they truly are. The main character finds his way around the country, relying on his unwavering positive outlook and quite a bit of good luck. Beginning from home he moves on out to a beginners job. From this job he joins the circus and experiences love firsthand. After losing the gal he drops to nothingness and emptiness. From nothingness though comes the stage of obscene richness only to end again with utter nothingness. In Carl Reiner's take on a classical bildungsroman, Navin Johnson experiences it all on his trip to understand himself.
Desperate to make a career on the big screen in order to prolong his soaring stand-up career, Steve Martin wrote the premise for The Jerk based on one line from one of his routines - "I was born a poor black child." As so Navin B. Johnson - the dim-witted adopted son of a family of black sharecroppers - was born. Light on plot but heavy on laughs, The Jerk is a shaggy-dog tale of an idiot's pursuit of the American Dream, and his downfall once he finds it, all shaped around Martin's stage persona by the writing team of Martin, Carl Gottlieb and Michael Elias.After learning from his mother that he is adopted ("You mean I'm gonna stay this colour?"), Navin sets out on the road to experience the big wide world and make it on his own. Along the way, he takes a variety of odd-jobs, from a gas station attendant to a weight- guesser at a travelling carnival, finally making his fortune with a ridiculous contraption called 'Opti-Grab' - a device that allows a pair of glasses to be removed and placed on the face with relative ease. He also falls in love with the doe-eyed Marie (Bernadette Peters), and the two share a lovely scene singing Tonight You Belong to Me on the beach before things start to fall apart as Navin becomes insufferable due his increasing wealth.Described (and criticised) as a film of 'funny hats' by Roger Ebert (as opposed to 'funny logic' - the reason for the funny hat), your enjoyment of The Jerk depends very much on your sense of humour. If sight-gags and goofiness is your thing, then there is much to love about The Jerk. Martin and director Carl Reiner clearly set out to give you a laugh a minute here, and while some jokes fall flat or come across as simply bizarre, they largely succeed. It's frequently crass but never mean-spirited (Navin innocently names his dog 'Shithead'), and it's a throwback to a less politically correct time when the white leading man could drop the 'n' word and get away with it. It's also a reminder of just how great Steve Martin used to be before he lowered himself to the family-friendly pap he is now better known for by modern audiences.
Steve Martin's first starring role brilliantly and perfectly displays his talents. Imagine a bit of Forrest Gump and sort of a prequel to Idiocracy. Martin's character has been raised by a black sharecropping family and decides to go out and see the "real world" when he reaches adulthood. Unfortunately, he is terribly naive (sort of like Norman in Drabble), which everyone else can sense and thus exploit to the absolute max. A glasses invention then turns things around and makes him filthy rich, but then things reverse.Everything about this movie is hilarious, especially with Steve Martin and his performance. It is an absolute comedy classic! I loved it and you will too. There were some great moments and lines.*** out of ****
Imagine that Steve Martin, raised by a black family, has to have the family tell him that he is not biologically theirs. Really? How asinine can this become, especially when he has a dog named Stupid who is anything but that.The film picks up with the entry of Bernadette Peters and how the two go from a rags to riches way of life, only to lose it all.There are some funny situations with Jackie Mason and a lunatic who pulls Martin's name out of the phone book at random with the intention to kill him. Some groups who advocate for mentally challenged people may find the film offensive.