(USA, 102 min.)
Dir. Dan Mazer, Writ. John Phillips
Starring: Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch, Aubrey
Plaza, Jason Mantzoukas, Julianne Hough, Dermot Mulroney
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| Photo courtesy of VVS Films. |
It’s so freezing this winter that the old folks are getting
a little stiff! The tabloids have yet to tell us if Robert De Niro needs the
little blue pill to bring the heat, but the veteran actor sure seems excited in
his latest film Dirty Grandpa. Dirty Grandpa takes the hijinks of Last Vegas and amps it up a notch as De
Niro plays horny old man Dick Kelly who decides to head south when his wife
dies and leaves him single for the first time in decades. When Dick hits spring
break, Dirty Grandpa parties like
it’s 1965.
Every man needs a wingman though, so Dick recruits his uptight grandson Jason (Zac Efron) to drive him to Tampa. Jason is days away from a marriage to a fiancée (Julianne Hough) who has him by the balls and tied up in coral-coloured neckties. He needs the release just as much as his dirty grandpa does.
The old hound dog teaches the young buck some new tricks as
Dick puts smooth moves on two co-eds that he and Jason encounter en route to
Tampa. Lenore (Aubrey Plaza), a twentysomething on the hunt for silver foxes,
returns Dick’s interest with a solid lady boner, while her friend Shadie (Zooey
Deutch) is a perfect fit for Jason—or, rather, she’s a perfect fit for the man
that Jason wishes he could be. Both generations of Kelly men are chasing a
dream as they venture forth to the land of Girls
Gone Wild, while the girls are out to rattle some bones and find love,
respectively.
Most of the material dives into jokes about boobs and wrinkly
balls, and Dirty Grandpa doesn’t make
excuses for its juvenile humour à la Porkies as grandfather and grandson chugs beers, tap
booties, and smoke crack. The family that plays together stays together, and
the film gives a raunchy take on the wisdom that passes down from generation to
generation as the wild vacation offers Jason a lesson in finding true love and
happiness by defying expectations. The agenda also lets Efron shake his booty
from behind a bumblebee, which a kid basically fellates in one of those yes, they went there sight gags that’s
too outrageous not to bring a laugh.
Dirty Grandpa is
at its funniest, though, when Dick and Jason have frequent run-ins with a drug
dealer named Tan Pam (Jason Mantzoukas) and a pair of inept cops played by Mo Collins
and Henry Zebrowski. These bits are just plain lunacy as Jason goes in and out
of jail, and Efron plays the square to a peanut gallery of goofy co-stars. The
film has a few gaps of dead air in between its outrageous moments, so the
energy sometimes sags like old man balls, but teen audiences and viewers in
theatres with bottle service are bound to enjoy it.
Dirty Grandpa gives
audiences exactly what they expect as Robert De Niro has a lot of fun in the zany
role of the horny old timer. The part makes fun of his age and De Niro is a
good sport about it, doing everything from “number three” (don’t ask/don’t
tell) to upstaging some frat boys in a beach body contest. His natural
crustiness complements the silliness of the material, as Dirty Grandpa lets De Niro drop zingers about women, gays, and
black people that are outrageously passé. Dirty
Grandpa is so blatantly political incorrect, though, that it gets away with
a lot of un-PC humour by having De Niro let loose and not take himself
seriously.
The smart casting choices extend to Plaza, who, although somewhat
underused, is a hoot in her deadpan dirty performance as the girl with an old
man fetish, while Deutch offers a likable sweet spot as Jason’s inevitable love
interest. Efron is a great fit for the part of Jason, as the little Dick of Dirty Grandpa is a living, breathing Ken
doll decked out in Banana Republic beachwear and fleece vests. (He’s “like
Abercrombie fucked Fitch” notes one of the film’s louder, gayer commentators.)
Like De Niro, Efron seems to be having a good time in Dirty Grandpa by letting himself be the butt of the joke. One silly
karaoke number to Céline Dion’s “Because You Loved Me” pokes fun at Efron’s High School Musical days by letting him
belt out the words of the Québécois crooner with ridiculous range and gusto.
Who knew that Céline could be so macho? Dirty
Grandpa might be funnier if it pushed the envelope off the table more
consistently than it does, but as a dirty comedy, it’s a harmless alternative
if Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay aren’t what audiences have in mind when
it comes to old people sex this weekend. Just go with it.
Dirty Grandpa opens in theatres Jan. 22.
