The Jerk, Too

I can't believe this movie exists.

Me and my friends ran into it on TV and watched the whole thing.

This movie really does address problems of the first "Jerk". For example, the first Jerk didn't have enough silly crosseyed faces. Thankfully "the Jerk Too" makes up for this in plentiful amounts. Also the original "Jerk" had too many jokes. Luckily, "the Jerk Too" knows when to draw the line. The jokes fly by at about one every 20 minutes, whew, just enough time to catch your breath in between laughing so hard! At the crosseyed faces!

Why is this movie so dark? I don't mean grim or gothic. I mean they seemed to only have key lights and left out the fill lights. Every scene has pitch black backgrounds, where you can only see the actors in the foreground. Ever notice how movies with a lot of pitch black makes you want to go to sleep? Or at their best, make you feel like they are hiding something, something mysterious or scary. This is how the Jerk makes you feel -- sleepy and afraid.

The music is bizarre. The first half of the movie is a horrible 70s comedy soundtrack...wacky light hearted music that comes and goes whenever it feels like it. It usually covers up the long montages of city scapes that take up a lot of time in script-deprived films like this. BUT THEN the music starts turning more into an 80s sound...pumping bass and fake heavily reverbed drums. Very odd.

The most fascinating scene was the classic Hobos vs. Bum dramatic monologue towards the end of the movie. Sure, there aren't ANY jokes in this very long scene, SURE, it doesn't help further the plot, it has nothing to do with the main character, and it brings up issues that were otherwise completely absent from the rest of the film. But on it's own, without the context of the bad movie, it's a pretty interesting scenario. I just can't figure out what it's doing in this movie.

Basically when a bunch of hobos are together and planning a way to rescue the jerk, one hobo declares opposition to the plan. "Why should I help him, nobody helps us!" The lead hobo then goes on a VERY lengthy speech about the difference between a hobo and a bum. It is VERY repetitive and adds NOTHING NOTHING NOOOOOTHING to the film. IT'S SO WEIRD.

So to sum up : No jokes, no lights, a lot of "Hobo #3" character development in one scene.

Nothing is related to the original, it is awful don't watch

The Jerk Too is a great family film with Innocent laughter about the simple things in life. It's about a very naive fully grown man with the mentality of a seven year old. Navin Johnson is the man that does not know what is going on, which direction to take, how to get there or how long it will take, but he has already started walking.

The humor in this character is something that everyone can relate to. Everyone at some point in their life has felt the exact same way as Navin only everyone else was at least a decade and a half younger.

Those of you who were disappointed in this film, please keep in mind that it was written by the exact same people who wrote the first film. It was not a flop, a stolen idea, or any kind of spin off, they just wanted to do it differently. And they chose to do it differently.

Also keep in mind that it is not a sequel to the first movie. You can not watch both movies and see a common ground between the two main characters. Completely different characters, completely different plots, completely different movie altogether.

Honestly, when I saw this movie years ago I immediately wanted to turn it off. As I sat there for the next 10 minutes or so, I realized that the actor playing Navin stole the show. His facial expressions and comedic demeanor makes me shake my head as to WHY he hasn't been in more comedies. He has this "Marty Feldman" thing going for him but MUCH, MUCH more talent...taking nothing away from Marty. The movie really shocked me by how close it was to the original Jerk, but then again, it was SO MUCH MORE. I really think that if this movie was released first, and I saw the Steve Martin movie 2nd, I'd think the 2nd was a cheap rip-off. I know it sounds like a BOLD statement, but it's true. I actually like Steve Martin a great deal, but his performance is 2nd to the actor in The Jerk Too. I wish I could get a copy of it for my collection. I urge you to see it if you can find it.

Okay The Jerk is one of my all time favorite movies. I will even go as far to say that it is a standard for comedies. When I was watching cable a couple months ago I saw this pile of crud and I disturbed by every single second of it. First I laughed at how bad it was, then I was compelled by the fact that it could not get worse, but it did.

I Should have known though look at the cast. First you have Stacy Nelkin who stared in the most insulting chapter of the Halloween series (part 3), and you have Mark Blankfield in the title role. Now he was okay in Robin Hood men in tights, but come on the guy was in Angel 3.

Do yourself a favor and never put yourself through the pain of seeing this... well I was almost going to call it film but that would be an insult to every other movie ever created. Just don't watch this.