The Jerk

1979

Action / Comedy

35
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 84% · 45 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 84% · 50K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.1/10 10 68042 68K

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Plot summary

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.

Director

Carl Reiner Photo
Carl Reiner

Top cast

Howard Hesseman Photo
Howard Hesseman as Carnival Worker
Carl Gottlieb Photo
Carl Gottlieb as Iron Balls McGinty
Gene LeBell Photo
Gene LeBell as Con Man
Dick O'Neill Photo
Dick O'Neill as Frosty
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
756.47 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds 20
1.45 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds 14

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by williampsamuel 8 / 10

Willfully stupid yet utterly hilarious

Watching Steve Martin in The Jerk, I cannot help but be amazed. Martin has undoubtedly created THE dumbest character ever to appear in a movie. As Navin R. Johnson, he is dense enough to not realize that he's adopted- even though his whole family is black! He's the kind of guy who will gladly accept a ride to the end of the fence, and considers making $1.10 an hour as a gas station attendant to be a dream come true. He's too stupid to understand that a girl who will tattoo your name on her butt after the first date isn't exactly a high class woman.OK. So he's dumb. So dumb in fact that he could never exist in real life. Anyone who takes the actions he takes, and goes through the experiences that he goes through, can only be a fictional construct. Usually this is fatal for a movie, because audiences cannot suspend their disbelief. This is especially true when the film has no real plot, but is merely a series a series of loosely connected scenes, as this movie is. Such are the trademarks of a box office bomb.But here, with Martin in lead, it works. The Jerk is so over the top, and Martin plays dumb so successfully, that it's hilarious, believable or not. The entire film is on the level of a middle school production, and it's something of a one joke movie, but it's just plain funny from beginning to end.I love his movie, and I laughed every minute, but I'm at something of a loss to explain its success. I guess if you play dumb enough, there's no telling what you can accomplish.
Reviewed by Wuchakk 7 / 10

Steve Martin's breakout comedy

A homeless mentally-challenged man (Steve Martin) shares his amusing tale of rags-to-riches-to-hobo with flashbacks. Catlin Adams plays a stunt rider at a carnival who has the hots for Navin (Martin) while Bernadette Peters plays a more important woman in his life."The Jerk" (1979) has several laugh-out-loud scenes, e.g. the eventual confrontation between Patty (Catlin) and Marie (Peters), but there are also some flat, overlong parts, like when Navin departs the mansion in the last act. "Forrest Gump" (1994) was obviously inspired by "The Jerk" and made a more serious, popular picture. Jim Carrey also took a lot of inspiration from Martin and "The Jerk" to forge the even funnier "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" (1994).The movie runs 1 hour, 34 minutes and was shot in the Los Angeles area.GRADE: B
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