Dirty Grandpa reviewed by Mark Kermode

I think the problem is that what probably what the film distributors or you know the makers of the film would like is somebody to be you know Furious and outraged if you look at the poster it's got um quotes from various people saying you know it was so disgusting I can't believe it wasn't censored I think it was one of things although they were all saying that's a good thing and the the problem about with talking about it is that I don't want to say anything at all that makes it seem like it would be a fun thing you know to go and see because you know something oh so shocking it's so outrageous it's so whatever it is we must we must go along so firstly I want to say that second thing is I feel quite uncomfortable talking about it because I thought it was really horrible I mean not entertain but really genuinely horrible in a way that um you know ages and ages ago uh Todd Haynes came on the radio 5 show I mean way way back back in the 90s and he was on talking about uh the response that one critic had had to a film he'd made called Poison which is a very interesting interesting film and he said that the critic said that they afterwards they wanted to go home and bath in Clorox and I you know i' raised that phrase before um after dirty grandpa I did feel genuinely unclean I mean genuinely like that thing about you know I want to go and have a shower because I've just because it's so revolting so anyway the story is uh Robert dairo I have to say that again because I just can't really believe that it's Robert dairo um is this oap who's just lost his wife and he's meant to be bed um and he gets his grandson played by Zack Efron to say take him he says you have to come to to to to to to Florida with me and Zack Efron doesn't want to do this because he's about to get married and it's apparent that actually what happens is that that Robert Deniro's character just wants to go completely Hog Wild and have loads and loads of you know of sex and uh and he's bringing Zach along for the ride because he thinks that that Zach needs needs loosening up um I I'll play you a clip anyway so you're a lawyer at your dad's firm now is that right that's right and Meredith is too you know her dad's one of the managing Partners there so it's yeah it could have worked out better because it's just that I remember when you were in high school you told me how much you wanted to be a photographer travel the world that sort of thing you remember when I got you that subscription to Time Magazine yeah I used to be into photography but um I mean with dad being at the firm just made so much more sense to focus on a college curriculum that stressed the law school track I mean I love what I do grandpa being a corporate lawyer is awesome I get to I get to handle SEC compliance you handle SEC compliance LP agreements oh man I didn't know that LLC agreements being a corporate lawyer you know and see it's got its upside I'm going to hit the liquor store over there get some more of the creature you're paying the check Alan duwit now that clip was cut in order to cut out um the thing that that that Robert dairo says in response to him saying I'm doing all this stuff as he makes a joke about you know what I'd rather do than do any of that stuff and then he makes a joke which we can't repeat on the air and it didn't really deserve to be repeated anywhere which is just really the beginning of this just endless parade of um really uh crass vulgarity in which you sit there kind of slack Jared that people that you've admired in the past have got anything to do with this I mean this is a film which you know it's not just the end the endless endless endless crash sexual jokes it's not the fact that it makes a joke at one point which is a gag about um molestation it's not just a film in which they have uh you know gone hell for leather to just kind of you know think of the most gross uh humor possible and then put it into the mouths of people that you might otherwise have admired it's that watching it um I had that I had that that feeling firstly of thinking I'm going to find it hard to watch a Robert dairo film again because it's not that I feel that he should be The Keeper of the flame of everything that he's done that was great in the past but it reminded me of movie 43 and thinking what are these people doing in this film what has the director who incidentally you know is a longtime collaborator with uh with Sasha Baron Coen got on these people that they're doing this and why is it that somebody know I mean Zack Efron you can kind of say okay well you know uh he you know he came to fame doing things like High School Musical and maybe somewhere in some bunkers alternative Universe it makes sense for him to just take part in something that is really crass and vulgar and unpleasant in order to put clear blue water between him and his sort of squeaky you know it's like somebody being in a boy band and then you know making a a heavy metal record or something no actually it's nothing like that because heavy metal records can be great and wonderful and this is just is foul I mean really foul really really I mean like jokes jokes that if somebody repeated them at a party you'd throw them out um there is there are things that I've seen in Bad Grandpa I never want I can never unsee Robert dairo doing things that I can't repeat on the air because the time of day run that I can't ever unsee and I unfortunately now if I watch Good Fellas or I watch king of comedy rather than seeing you know Rupert pupkin being brilliant I'm going to see Robert daero with with um Zack Efron walking in on him and finding him relaxing in a gentleman's way as viz Comics used to call it and not just in a fleeting shop but for a long time and thinking at what you know I know he's got bills to pay and I know he's got projects that he wants to finance and I'm sure that he that he feels that he's earned his he's earned his keep and it's not like he hasn't let us down before but this isn't like being let down this is this is really like somebody putting their chin forward and challenging you to to uh to still have any any vestigial respect for them at all I thought it was really gross I thought its sense of humor was so wildly misjudged I know it's very smug and very smart and very middle class now to go oh you're shocked by those things you know oh well you know we're Comedians and we can push the boundaries of of taste and that's what we're doing we're I can just imagine all the people making it sitting around in their smug dinner par ities smugly congratulating themselves on making something it's so shocking it's so offensive it's so shocking and just thinking I just don't want the film to exist I wish I hadn't seen it I wish I could unsee it but I can't but I don't want to talk about it anymore is it worse than Entourage I tell you what Somewhere In Hell there is a multiplex playing this on a double bill movie 43 an Entourage

Channel: kermodeandmayo

Views: 238,482

Keywords: Dan Mazer, Zac Efron, Robert De Niro, Zoey Dutch, Aubrey Plaza, Dirty Grandpa, Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review, BBC, 5live

Id: 05GwDHYXlmI

Length: 7min 4sec (424 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 29 2016