By TRENTON JUDD & NATALIE SACKET
Columnists
Trenton: 2 out of 5
When a movie is named “Dirty Grandpa,” you don’t watch it and expect Oscar worthy performances. There were definitely performances to behold, not Oscar worthy, but performances that will leave you thinking “I just saw Robert De Niro do that!” and these thoughts will lead to confused feelings as to what you just watched.
This is a movie that will manage to tug at your gag reflex in one scene and then tug at your heartstrings in another. The overall story is basic, but there are good elements here and there that could set it apart from most discovering yourself stories.
Unfortunately most of the movie is buried in very raunchy humor, but oddly enough for every nine bad jokes there is one good zinger. This movie uses the power of repetition with its more vulgar jokes in an attempt to warp your mind to laugh during at least one of the dirty jokes they are bombarding you with.
The best actors in this movie are clearly just having fun with the roles they are given, but this doesn’t mean that they are just getting through this for a paycheck. Instead these actors are having so much fun on the screen that you can’t help but to enjoy their performance.
These comedic actors are non-other than Robert De Niro, Zac Efron and Aubrey Plaza. What makes De Niro so funny is the fact that we’re seeing an Oscar winning actor spitfire a gratuitous amount of anatomical jokes. Efron, for me, was the biggest surprise as far as his comedic acting goes. There were several scenes that he just nailed the timing of the joke and when it came to his punchline delivery Efron didn’t miss a beat. Plaza played the usual quirky, awkward girl, but it is her certain quirk that makes her character cringe worthy and funny. To sum things up “Dirty Grandpa” will make you gag, get you choked up and it has some farts with a little bit of heart.
Natalie: 1 out of 5
“Dirty Grandpa” was dirty, for sure. Dirty, as in garbage, or down-the-sewer-not-worth-your-time. The film tries much too hard, yet does not achieve its ultimate goal: laughter.
Critics have torn this film to shreds, and I’m afraid I must continue that pattern.
With an all-star cast consisting of Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Aubrey Plaza and Julianne Hough, I expected far more. However, even a cinematic legend like De Niro can get cast in a movie destined for failure, and no matter how strong the actors in the film are, there may be no hope. The only highlight for me in this film was Aubrey Plaza, as hilarious and quirky as ever. Also, DeNiro and Efron maintain great chemistry on screen.
The film is crude, even shocking at times. It tries terribly hard to be offensive and succeeds. It tries terribly hard to make you laugh and fails. It’s not particularly unique or novel, following a carbon-copy pattern for comedy. Full of sex, anatomy and gender stereotype jokes, it’s tiresome at some points, boring at almost all others.
I was perhaps most offended by the subject matter that the film attempted to make humorous. It is filled with thinly-veiled misogyny, sexism and homophobia. This only provides cheap shots at the expense of others and does not succeed in true humor. It’s like spring break meets boys club.
Bottom Line: After trailers, I wasn’t expecting a stellar comedy, but I did have higher hopes for DeNiro and Efron. I wouldn’t recommend this film, no matter how desperate you are for a comedy.