Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20164 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-04-17
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Format: NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Running time: 94 minutes

Amazon.com Essential Video
Carl Reiner (Where's Poppa?) brought comic Steve Martin to the screen in this mostly funny 1979 movie about a relentlessly stupid but innocent man, whom we get to know from childhood (where it never occurred to him that he was white as he was raised by a family of black sharecroppers) to romance (where he doesn't quite know what to do with Bernadette Peters). Martin is game as the moron, and this is the kind of film with funny moments people still talk about. The DVD release has production notes, bios, highlights, theatrical trailer, closed captioning, full-screen presentation, and optional Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh

Review
Steve Martin became famous for being goofy. As the majority of '70s comedians were reveling in the newly discovered freedom to make explicit commentaries on society and politics (Richard Pryor, George Carlin), Martin became a sensation simply because he had happy feet and wore an arrow through his head. He was not a silly man, but he had an appreciation for the absurd, not unlike the members of Monty Python. Before evolving into a formidable writer (Roxanne, L.A. Story, Bowfinger, and Picasso at the Lapin Agile) The Jerk captured Martin at the peak of his silliness. There are precursors to The Jerk (Jerry Lewis' work comes to mind) and there are films that it obviously influenced (Dumb and Dumber). While the best bits from this film could easily be used in those other films (it does not require much work to imagine Jim Carrey covering his behind and his privates with small poodles as he runs around naked), it is the essential sweetness in Martin's characterization that sets this film apart from both its forbears and its imitators. One can see the aggression that Carrey and Lewis direct toward themselves and, occasionally, their audience. Carrey beating himself up in both Liar, Liar and Me, Myself, and Irene is a good example of this tendency. Martin's performance never winks at the audience; there is no sense that Martin the actor knows this is funny material. He is confident that all the humor will stem not from his lack of mental capabilities, but because he is a saintly fool who always attempts to do the right thing. Whether saving cans or getting a proper dinner at a fancy restaurant for his true love, Navin's motives are pure. He may not have a brain, but he has a big heart. The film is a success because it's screamingly funny without degrading its characters or its audience, and it's sweet without being bathetic, sentimental, or maudlin. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

On the DVD
"Tonight You Belong To Me": Learn how to play this classic tune on the ukulele
The lost filmstrips of Father Carlos Las Vegas De Cordova

Customer Reviews

If You Ever Need Cheering Up
Then this is the movie for you. That is, if you have any sense of humor whatsoever. There are so many funny, memorable scenes in this movie - like when he's standing right outside his parents' fence hitchhiking or when the guy is shooting at him - "These cans! He hates these cans!" "The new phone book is here!" "I'm somebody now!" The Jerk is one of the best comedies ever made. If you want to laugh, if you can laugh, buy or rent this movie!

Where's the widescreen version?
A classic but demand a widescreen version.

weirdly funny
Steve Martin shows a lot of comedic flair in this, one of his first films (he later tones it down and hones it in later works, which is all I had seen up to this point, so this was very strange in how over-the-top he is.)

Steve plaves Navin, a white boy adopted by a large loving African-American family, who honestly believed he would turn black on his 18th birthday (which is when his family reveals to him that he is adopted, although they had hoped he would figure it out beforehand.)

Determined to make his way out in the world, Navin takes on a series of unrelated jobs that turn out poorly --- gas station attendant (in which he demolishes a church), carnival employee (where he has his first carnal knowledge and his first romantic love -- with two very different women), and later becomes a billionaire through some very odd means.

But at heart, he's just a simple country boy who wants to fit in back where he came from. He's not a bum, he's a jerk! All he has are his friends and a thermos.