Film

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

Name: Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2013
Cast: Johnny Knoxville, Jackson Nicoll, Georgina Cates, Catherine Keener, Spike Jonze

Comedy
Strange

Bad Grandpa wraps Jackass's hidden-camera pranks in a threadbare road-movie plot: an elderly man and his grandson cross America, staging embarrassing setups with real people. It's prank comedy that aims to shock and cringe, built entirely on whether you find strangers' confusion and discomfort funny. Pure id, very little else.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you laugh hardest at escalating public pranks where strangers' horrified reactions are the joke, and you have a taste for gross-out chaos with a mean streak.

Skip it if the whole thing is built on uncomfortable pranks on real bystanders, so if you find that cruelty unfunny rather than thrilling, the stunts will mostly feel like an ordeal.

What it asks of you: It runs a brisk hour and a half with little plot between set pieces, so staying loose and accepting the outrageous in short, unsettling bursts helps.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan2006

Sacha Baron Cohen's deadpan foreigner exposes genuine American attitudes through elaborate deception. Brash, fearless, sometimes genuinely insightful beneath the crude humor. The gold standard for prank-based comedy.

But Relies heavily on mockery of real people and cultures; some find the mean-spiritedness exhausting rather than funny.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan poster

The Eric Andre Show2012

Absurdist talk-show parody that pranks celebrity guests with surreal non-sequiturs and physical chaos. Unpredictable, genuinely weird, and built on the same anarchic energy as Jackass itself.

But Deliberately incoherent and often pointless; if you need structure or payoff, this will frustrate you deeply.

Jackass Number Two2006

Peak Jackass: the crew at their most inventive and coordinated, performing elaborate stunts and pranks with genuine production value and comedic timing. Funnier and meaner than Bad Grandpa.

But Focuses on self-harm and bodily violation rather than public pranks; aggressively stupid in ways some find unwatchable.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst2015

Both use hidden cameras and real people's unfiltered reactions as their engine, but where Bad Grandpa treats strangers as props, The Jinx examines what it means to film someone who may be predatory—a moral mirror-image.

Six-part HBO documentary that plays like a thriller, following suspected murderer Robert Durst's bizarre life. Real hidden-camera footage of interviews so shocking they triggered a confession. This is prank-comedy's sinister mirror: what happens when deception meets genuine stakes.

But Deeply unsettling true crime about real murders; the voyeurism required makes this feel less like entertainment and more like complicity.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst poster

Brüno2009

Baron Cohen's follow-up mines comedy from fake cultural clashes and outrageous provocations. More focused than Borat, occasionally genuinely funny beneath the contempt.

But Relies on homophobia and shock value as punchlines; the humor has aged poorly and feels more mean-spirited than clever.

Dirty Grandpa2016

Robert De Niro and Zac Efron on a wild road trip; similarly structured to Bad Grandpa but with theatrical narrative framing. Occasionally lands absurdist humor among the chaos.

But Script is thin, performances feel like they're compensating for weak material, and the plot contrivances become tedious.

Jackass 3D2010

The franchise experiments with 3D to heighten the physical comedy. When stunts work, the spatial dimension adds genuine impact. Ambitious in its technical execution if nothing else.

But 3D novelty has completely worn off; many pranks flop, and the movie feels like filler between better Jackass entries.

The Ringer2005

Johnny Knoxville plays a fake intellectually disabled athlete infiltrating the Special Olympics. Offensive premise handled with unexpected heart; Knoxville's own earnestness steadies the movie.

But The central conceit is deeply uncomfortable and patronizing; the fact that it occasionally works doesn't entirely justify it.

Grandma's Boy2006

Slacker comedy with Adam Sandler living with his grandmother. Lower-key than Bad Grandpa but shares the same ramshackle elderly-relative energy and willingness to be genuinely dumb.

But Thin plot, dated stoner humor, and a weird romantic subplot that drags down the pacing considerably.

Bad Lieutenant1992

Both feature older men behaving shamefully in public spaces, but Ferrara's camera examines the pathology seriously while Knoxville asks us to laugh at it. One is confession, the other is carnival.

Abel Ferrara's acid-soaked portrait of a corrupt cop in freefall. Harvey Keitel gives a performance of raw, unfiltered degradation. It's ugly, chaotic, and feels like watching someone's real descent. No pretense, no mercy.

But Genuinely difficult to watch—sexual humiliation, drug use, corruption shown without irony or redemption. Not entertainment in any comfortable sense.

Four Rooms1995

Both trap ordinary people (strangers in pranks, the bellhop) in scenarios designed to produce maximum discomfort and embarrassment, but Four Rooms owns the artificiality while Bad Grandpa pretends at realism.

Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez co-directed this real-time chaos comedy: a bellhop navigates increasingly absurd guest requests over one night. Low-budget, unhinged energy, guests weaponizing weirdness against one harmless protagonist.

But Deliberately shapeless, often feels like an inside joke no one else is invited to; pacing is chaotic by design, which can feel tedious rather than funny.