I have a soft spot for Steve Martin, I admit it. This guy is hysterical. Classic comedy.
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Top"DAMN THESE GLASSES", "OK SIR....I DAMN THEE!" "HERE I FIXED THEM SIR, NOW YOU JUST PUT THEM ON EASILY" "HEY, YOU COULD MAKE A LOT OF MONEY SELLING S**T LIKE THIS!" One of the funniest movies ever made!
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TopThe Jerk is a classic. The first, and greatest, idiot movie.
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TopReleased in 1979 and directed by Carl Reiner, "The Jerk" was Steve Martin's first major film and screenwriting effort. The movie follows the rags to riches to rags story of idiot, good-natured Navin Johnson (Steve Martin) who was raised by a black sharecropping family headed by the matriarch (Mabel King). Navin discovers his true ethnicity when he finds rhythm with an easy listening radio station and decides to make his fortune in the world. Going through a series of menial jobs (eg gas station attendant and carnival weight guesser), Navin escapes from a serial killer, discovers his sexuality (ie his "special purpose"), falls in love with a wholesome femme fatale (Bernadette Peters), and gets rich from his invention of the Opti-Grab, a tool which keeps glasses from slipping. The fairytale comes crashing down when Navin is sued over his invention. What makes this film work is that Martin can make the material effective with silliness which seems natural and unabrasive. Moreover, the sexual references are well done in a way that matches the aura of the movie as a whole. The bottom line is that "The Jerk" is a movie that is still funny today and is important when examining the development of Steve Martin's career.
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TopThe Jerk is a classic Steve Martin comedy movie. I'm sure anyone who has seen it knows at least one of of the oh-so-many fabulous and funny quotes from it. If you're looking for a great comedy movie suitable for one person, two people, a family, I recommend watching it. I've always been a Steve Martin fan myself, along with a horde of others, and I must say that the Jerk is, in my opinion, on of his best films.
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Toppretty funny movie. Steve Martin plays the rags to riches to rags man,he is a poor white sharecroppers son who is raised by a black family. He goes out into the world to make his fortune. along the way he lives in a gas station. and gets shot at. works in a carnival.He meets Bernadette Peters character, he ends up inventing a part that holds the glasses on a persons nose,gets rich, than poor again.good movie with some real funny scenes. Steve Martin is good as the "jerk'
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TopSteve Martin is hilarious. "Why would i build a fence?" "You know sir...to keep the N1ggers out." "N1ggers! I am a N1gger!"
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TopI'd have to say that Steve Martin in his prime was one of the funniest people ever, and the Jerk is great evidence. From the physical comedy of his discovery of rhythm to all the great stupid antics, this one is great from start to finish. Many of the lines have become classics that I find myself using in daily life: "Oh so it's a profit thing!" (after Mavin Johnson is told not to feel bad about his poor record as a weight-guesser) "I don't want the money. I just want the stuff." (says Marie when Mavin goes broke) By the way, I'm glad also that Medgar Evers mentioned how great Bernadette Peters is in this. I absolutely fell in love with her in this movie, and wish I could have pulled on her face to observe the tightness of her face-skin just like Steve got to.
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Top"I was born... a poor black child." Thus begins this brilliant comedy that I've only seen once but I definitely believe is one of the funniest I've ever come across. Bernadette Peters' appearance is great and Steve Martin is wonderfully goofy. It's hard to pick a favorite scene, whether it's Steve and Bernadette singing "Tonight You Belong To Me" or Steve Martin singing her a song he wrote about a thermos, it's all great.
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TopThe Jerk is about an intellectually challenged man (played by Steve Martin) who is raised by family of black sharecroppers in rural Mississippi. When Martin goes off to experience the world, he casually invents a product that makes him an instant millionaire: the little nose clip on glasses that prevents them from sliding off your face. This movie is ridiculous but it allows Martin to steal the show. My favorite scene: a deranged gunman is firing at Martin as he works in a gas station. The bullets are missing him and popping holes in cans of oil right behind him. When Martin finally figures out what is going on (after asking his boss if the cans are defective), he runs away shouting a warning to his boss, "Stay away from the cans! He hates the cans!"
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TopThe Jerk is about an intellectually challenged man (played by Steve Martin) who is raised by family of black sharecroppers in rural Mississippi. When Martin goes off to experience the world, he casually invents a product that makes him an instant millionaire: the little nose clip on glasses that prevents them from sliding off your face. This movie is ridiculous but it allows Martin to steal the show. My favorite scene: a deranged gunman is firing at Martin as he works in a gas station. The bullets are missing him and popping holes in cans of oil right behind him. When Martin finally figures out what is going on (after asking his boss if the cans are defective), he runs away shouting a warning to his boss, "Stay away from the cans! He hates the cans!"
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Jerk, The (1979) receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS rating of 3.14 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #453 movie of all time, #8 movie from 1979 and #69 Comedy movie of all time. The rating and ranking is based on an average of 51 critic scores, awards and other criteria. To see a breakdown of the movie ranking, read individual critic reviews, or see how other movies ranked, click on the link below.
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The Jerk
Johnson, Navin R. hey, we don't have defective cans....we got a defective peson. I think it's great how everyone is commenting on the cans. classic
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