'Dirty Grandpa' Made Me Feel Dirty Watching It
The first few months of the year are also known as the dump months where the studios pile up films that they don't really believe in. Usually, they are films that get delayed or are just plain bad. After having seen The Boy, Hail, Caesar!, and now Dirty Grandpa, I fully understand why.
Story:
Dirty Grandpa follows the story of a lawyer named Jason (Zac Efron) who takes his grandfather (Robert De Niro) on a road trip after the funeral of his grandmother. But as they end up in Daytona Beach, Florida, hjinks begin to ensue.
Ups:
I will get the few positives out of the way. First off is the main reason that I went to go see this movie: Aubrey Plaza. Plaza brings her usual hilarity to the role of a sexual college student that keeps trying to seduce De Niro’s character. Next, I’ll talk about Robert De Niro. When watching his performance, I couldn’t tell whether he was actually having fun with this film or was flamboyantly phoning it in. But either way, he still attempted to bring an energy to his role.
Downs:
First off, I thought Zac Efron was miscast as the “straight man.” Usually, when you have a comedic pairing, there is one who is zany and causes the hijinks that ensue while the other is the serious, straight man that reacts to the hijinks. But Efron is much better when he’s playing the zany one. I do give him props for attempting to show off his comedic range and trying to prove he can play both sides of the coin but he’s better when he’s playing the zany one in a duo.
Also, there were a good amount of jokes pertaining to homosexuality that weren't necessarily offensive. But to me, they were quite tasteless. Because it is De Niro’s character that makes those types of jokes along with other uses of vulgarity, by the time they tried to show off his softer side where he acts more like a grandfather, I sort of checked out because I didn't care that they tried to redeem him.
Lastly, the plot is not only predictable, but it reminded me of a male version of Tammy: Protagonist goes on a road trip with his or her grandparent, hijinks ensues, and they eventually learn more about one another. This movie is Tammy with a Y chromosome. If you read my review of Tammy, you’ll know that I didn’t like that one very much and I didn’t necessarily like this one.
Consensus:
Overall, Dirty Grandpa is a tasteless, unoriginal road trip hijinks movie where the biggest enjoyment I got out of it was a coupon for free concessions that I received on my Cinemark app after the movie was over. Despite the usual hilarity of Aubrey Plaza, everything else is complete drek.
Grade: D
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