![\"Dirty-Grandpa-01\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Dirty-Grandpa-01.jpg?resize=560%2C390\")
De Niro has played some iconic characters in the movies, but in recent years he has squandered his talents and intense screen persona on a number of substandard projects that keep diminishing whatever remaining goodwill he has with admirers. He redeemed himself briefly with a couple of solid performances under the direction of David O Russell in the recent comedy\/drama Joy<\/a> <\/i>and Silver Linings Playbook<\/a><\/i>, which reminded us of what he was capable of with a good script at hand. But he has blotted his copybook with this tacky and tasteless and decidedly unfunny comedy in which he plays a horny senior citizen. Dirty Grandpa <\/i>is undoubtedly the nadir of his career (a career that includes the awful Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle<\/i>, mind you).<\/p>\nDe Niro plays Dick Kelly, who just days after burying his wife of forty years, heads off to Florida with the intention of getting laid. “I haven’t had sex in fifteen years,” he bemoans. Dick guilt trips his reluctant grandson Jason (a game Zac Efron) to accompany him. An early scene has De Niro masturbating (which he euphemistically refers to as a “number 3”) while watching porn, an embarrassing enough moment, but the film quickly deteriorates from there.<\/p>\n
Jason once wanted to become a photographer, but he gave up his youthful dreams to follow his straightlaced father (Dermot Mulroney) into a prestigious law firm. Now he deals with tax law and seems frustrated by the lack of excitement and freedom. Even worse he is about to marry the domineering and spoiled Meredith (Julianne Hough, from Footloose<\/i>, etc). The uptight and demanding Meredith forces Jason to take her car, a bright pink Mini Cooper, which leads to lots of comments about how emasculated Jason is.<\/p>\n
The pair head off to Daytona Beach during spring break, that annual orgy of debauchery, sex, drugs and non stop partying. Along the way they get caught up in a testosterone fuelled rivalry with a couple of dim witted, muscle bound jocks (played by Jake Picking and Michael Hudson). Jason has a couple of encounters with the local drug dealer Pam (Jason Mantzoukas), smokes crack, and has a couple of run-ins with two of the most inept and incompetent police officers this side of Super Troopers, <\/i>which land him in jail.<\/p>\n
Jason reconnects with Shadia (Zoey Deutch, from Vampire Academy<\/em>) his former lab partner in photography class at college. She is a free spirit into environmental causes. And Lenore (Aubrey Plaza, from Safety Not Guaranteed<\/i>) is a sexpot college student with a thing for older men who tries to seduce Dick. There is something decidedly off putting, and disturbingly creepy about this scenario. Jason is continually worried about the upcoming wedding, while Dick is trying to show him a good time and make him realise there is more to life. He delivers some life lessons about following your dreams and following your heart. And both Jason and Dick have been lying about what they do in an attempt to impress the ladies, but, as usual, their deceit comes back to bite them.<\/p>\n The film obliterates many of the cliches of the road movie genre, and ends badly with an illogical and cliched third act. Dirty Grandpa <\/i>is the first screenplay from writer John Phillips, who is also writing Bad Santa 2, <\/i>and is full of vulgar humour and a succession of penis jokes that cater to the lowest common denominator. Most of the embarrassing humour falls flat.<\/p>\n The director is British filmmaker Dan Mazer, a frequent collaborator with Sacha Baron Cohen who has worked on Da Ali G Show <\/i>and written Borat<\/i>, etc, and is no stranger to this kind of gross out humour. As well as misjudging the tone of the material, Mazer’s visual approach to the film is rather bland and uninspired.<\/p>\n