The Jerk (1979)
As someone who never watched Steve Martin’s stand-up comedy or work on SNL, I’m not the target audience for his first big hit, The Jerk. This movie is full of silly sexual gags, racist jokes, and setups that would only amuse folks who like laughing at morons. I have no idea how funny this was back in 1979, but in 2019, it’s not very funny for Steve to act shocked to learn that he was adopted into a Southern black family. “You mean I’m going to stay this color forever?” he asks his mother, Mabel King, in tears.
Steve leaves his very poor family in search of self-discovery and gets a job as a gas jockey in Jackie Mason’s garage. He invents unusual eyeglasses for Bill Macy and finds himself a target for M. Emmet Walsh’s sniper rifle, then randomly runs away to the circus, takes up with Catlin Adams, who drives her motorcycle through hoops of fire and threatens to kill him if he looks at another woman. He does, and he falls madly in love with the sweet, pretty Bernadette Peters, his real-life sweetie pie. It is cute to see them together, since she can’t contain her moony eyes, but you can also check out Pennies from Heaven for that purpose. This movie isn’t really worth it.
More Steve Martin movies here!
Steve leaves his very poor family in search of self-discovery and gets a job as a gas jockey in Jackie Mason’s garage. He invents unusual eyeglasses for Bill Macy and finds himself a target for M. Emmet Walsh’s sniper rifle, then randomly runs away to the circus, takes up with Catlin Adams, who drives her motorcycle through hoops of fire and threatens to kill him if he looks at another woman. He does, and he falls madly in love with the sweet, pretty Bernadette Peters, his real-life sweetie pie. It is cute to see them together, since she can’t contain her moony eyes, but you can also check out Pennies from Heaven for that purpose. This movie isn’t really worth it.
More Steve Martin movies here!