Rank: .5/5
“Dirty Grandpa” starring Robert De Niro and Zac Efron was a comedic disappointment.
The movie, although funny, featured an insignificant plot which was predictable from the very beginning of the movie. The jokes produced laughs, but the actors brought no emotions to their characters.
As the movie began, the screen opens to a montage of a young boy and his grandfather enjoying life together. The two were doing things like playing at the beach, posing and eating together. But the pictures had De Niro’s face poorly pasted over the original man’s face. A better choice for the filmmakers would’ve been to just start with the sub-par plot of the movie instead of showing two minutes of clearly altered stock images.
The plot mimicked many major plot points in “The Hangover.” The major plot focused on Jason Kelly, (Efron) who was asked by his grandfather to go on one final trip before tying the knot to his overbearing wife. Kelly did not want to go on the trip, but had to because his grandfather, Dick Kelly, (De Niro) demanded it.
De Niro’s character knew that Efron’s character did not want to marry his fiancé played by Julianne Hough. On the trip, the two meet a plethora of characters including the “right” woman for Efron’s character.
Naturally Efron’s character leaves his fiancé, after various sub-plots and much convincing from his grandfather, to be with the woman who is right for him. After this awful story is wrapped up the viewer is left with the message of that everyone should find who is right for them. A message which has been repeated many times over in movies.
The movies negatives outweighed its positives. But one of these positives was De Niro’s one liners, no matter how politically incorrect they were. Perhaps the director felt those jokes were “ok” since De Niro was playing a 70-year-old man following the old people say whatever comes to mind belief.
Another positive that made the movie bearable was brought from the comedic relief Jason Mantzoukas who played a small business owner/drug dealer/spring break DJ. While the role is typical of a movie of this type, having Mantzoukas for this role was a great choice in casting because his performance kept the audience laughing during any of his scenes.
But, even with the movie’s laughs, the film is a flop. It looks like De Niro will be adding another unsuccessful role to his recent filmography.