It’s kind of amazing that Johnny Knoxville’s schtick of putting himself in ultra-harmful situations has lasted this long. Instead of tiring out it’s audience, the cast and crew of Jackass instead made each feature film featuring all their wacky stunts major cinematic events, thus not only keeping their own careers going, but also making lots of people laugh at the same time. Having never seen an episode of Jackass, the TV show it’s spun-off of, nor any of the movies it follows, I walked into Bad Grandpa not exactly sure what I was in for. After seeing it, I’m still not exactly sure what it was, but it did have some funny moments, no denying that.

Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) has just learned his wife has died and upon hearing this news, doesn’t even hold back a giddy smile. Finally free of his significant other, he plans to live life to the fullest, until his daughter winds up in prison. Unfortunately, that daughter has a son, Billy (Jackson Nicoll) who needs to be driven to his father, and the only way he can get there is with Irving’s help. Together, Billy and Irving will make tons of mischief on their epic journey while also learning about the value of; ah, who am I kidding? There’s no lesson here. Just try to enjoy the jokes and you might find yourself a good time.

I’ll say this much; this movie commits to it’s debauchery. They don’t just mildly push boundaries, they obliterate whatever semblance of good taste remains in cinema in their quest for crafting major belly laughs. Some of the antics performed here are indescribable in a school newspaper; simply put, they’re simultaneously horrific and oddly hilarious. What’s interesting is the gags themselves usually aren’t humorous (they rely too much on scatological humor for my taste) but normal people’s unscripted reactions to all the shenanigans that produce some of the movies biggest laughs.

Surprisingly, the narrative structure of the movie is sound, with an actual plot that gently guides all of the movies R-rated antics to an actual destination. The fact that this isn’t just a string of individual sketches but actually feels like a semi-coherent film, is an achievement in and of itself as films like Borat and Bruno show the danger of relying solely on “humorous” situations instead of plot. All of this is helped by the fact that Irving is actually a decent protagonist to spend an hour and a half with. While far from some kind of model citizen, at least he’s not an overly gross or rude fellow like most protagonists in R-rated comedies, even if his personality seems to change a lot in early scenes of the film and doesn’t get clearly established until later into the film.

I felt an odd sense of respect for the filmmakers of Bad Grandpa as I watched all their chaos unfold. That respect comes from somehow turning all of their slapstick escapades into an actual film, and not a half bad one to boot.  Thanks to it’s commitment to making the best possible gross out gags ever (not to mention using two of the best country songs of all-time within the film), the movie manages to rise above expectations. It’s certainly not for everyone, and believe me, I did feel bad for laughing at many of this movies gags, but Bad Grandpa  remains a pretty fun, if disgusting, time at the cinema.