Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa is a 2013 American hidden camera comedy film directed by Jeff Tremaine and written by Tremaine, Johnny Knoxville, and Spike Jonze. It is the fourth installment in the Jackass film series. The film stars Johnny Knoxville and Jackson Nicoll. It was produced by MTV Films and Dickhouse Productions and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was released on October 25, 2013. Bad Grandpa has a loose plot that connects the stunts and pranks together as opposed to the three original Jackass films which had no plot.
Trailer
Plot
Eighty-six-year-old Irving Zisman and Billy, his grandson, are on a road trip across the United States. Irving is tasked with taking Billy to live with Chuck, his father, after Kimmie, his mother, is jailed. Interspersed with the brief story segments are hidden camera pranks and stunts.
Cast
- Johnny Knoxville as Irving Zisman
- Jackson Nicoll as Billy
- Greg Harris as Chuck
- Georgina Cates as Kimmie
- Kamber Hejlik as Doctor
- Jill Kill as Pageant Reporter
- Madison Davis as Juggalo Girl
- George Faughnan as Juggalo Guy
- Grasie Mercedes as Hostess
- Marilynn Allain as Receptionist
- Jack Polick as Funeral Worker
- Spike Jonze as Gloria
- Catherine Keener as Ellie
Production
In March 2012, Knoxville discussed the possibility of a fourth Jackass movie, saying "we're keeping our mind open" and "I've got 50–60 ideas on top of all the stuff we didn't get to shoot." Then in June 2012, it was reported Paramount "registered several domains for a film that would be called Jackass 4: Bad Grandpa." During Margera's September 18, 2012 interview on The Howard Stern Show about Jackass he said: "There's going to be a whole movie about Knoxville's grandpa character." The film was officially announced on July 17, 2013, and was released on October 25, 2013. Knoxville revealed he and director Jeff Tremaine had been approached on making a film featuring the Irving Zisman character, but held off as they did not feel a plot consisting of pranking the public would be able to carry an entire film. Eventually, Tremaine and Knoxville came up with a story to structure the pranks around.
I was just shaking my head thinking that this kid is a piece of work. He's unbelievable. I think he was sent from heaven.
The first scene shot featured Irving enraging golfers on a Columbus, Ohio course, where he was working as a groundskeeper. "At that point all of my hesitancy just washed away," Knoxville said. "We got so much funny stuff that we knew we had something special. The Irving Zisman makeup took three hours to apply to Knoxville. Five hours were needed for scenes requiring Knoxville to remove his shirt. Jackson Nicoll was cast as Billy, Irving Zisman's grandson. Knoxville cast Nicoll after working with him on the 2012 film Fun Size. "Jackson would just follow me on the set and verbally assault me while hitting me in the zipper," Knoxville said. "I was just shaking my head thinking that this kid is a piece of work. He's unbelievable. I think he was sent from heaven."
Critical response
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa has received generally positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 61% approval rating with an average rating of 5.4/10 based on 83 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Never quite as funny as it wants to be, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa still offers viewers the timeless pleasures of seeing an old man get his privates stuck in a vending machine." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 54 based on 29 reviews.
Box office
As of October 25, 2013, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa has grossed $32,000,000 in North America, and $8,100,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $40,100,000. In North America, the film opened to #1 in its first weekend, with $32,055,177.