Written by: Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, Michael Elias
Starring: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams, Jackie Mason
Rating: [3/5]
While we’d all like to believe success comes purely from hard work and dedication, our society has demonstrated that to not always be the case. There are some who just walk into success by being in the right place at the right time. No other character embodies this in a comedic manner like the unique individual we follow in The Jerk. Here we see a man walk through life, find massive successes, and the downsides that come with it.
Setting off from Mississippi to make a name for himself, Navin (Steve Martin) works different oddball jobs where different figures enter his life in some absurd ways. However, when an offhand idea of his leads to a businessman finding a way to monetize it, Navin finds himself in a position to make life-changing money and live a lifestyle he never dreamed of.
Initially drawn to this film because of its place in the AFI’s 100 Funniest American Movies of All Time and the fact it stars Steve Martin, The Jerk starts out in quite an eye-catching manner. As we are introduced to him, he lives with a family and does not realize he has a racial difference to his Black family members. On one hand it’s sweet that he literally does not see race, but he eventually must find his own way. This sets off the rest of the film and lets the madness that his life will become begin.
Operating with an absurdist approach, the different trials Navin faces before him happen through nothing he asked for. Like when he works at the gas station and some random fella decides he will try to shoot him down. Navin certainly never did anything to anyone that should conjure those violent thoughts, but yet that happens. Coincidentally at the same time, he helps invent the device that will lead him to making a boatload of money in the future. With each stop along the way, Navin just walks into things happening to him. It makes him this passive figure that the world will shape, which makes sense given the man is incredibly naive. For his sake, at least most of these events happening to him lead towards something positive.
With this passivity comes the comedy of the film, as he remains completely clueless of what’s happening around him for the most part. It’s what makes the title of this film silly in and of itself. Steve Martin plays this obliviousness perfectly, as one would expect from him. Navin is such a foolish character, and having him figure out the world around him as much as he’s able to allows Martin to find the sweet spot in chewing up the scenery every chance he gets. We see this in every scene, but especially in the opening act, where he spends time with his adoptive family, as not many actors of his complexion can pull off what he does, but that’s Steve Martin for you. Given the film opens with Navin as a homeless man in Los Angeles, it becomes obvious his quick ascent will be met by likely a graceful downfall, making this situation all the funnier.
In a way, the journey Navin goes on summarizes the American dream for all of the good and bad elements it entails. We see the best of it where a tiny moment of accidental inventiveness on his part leads to something that makes him so much money. Then you can flip the coin, and the very success he enjoys causes some trouble as the film nails the litigious nature of our country as well. Therefore, The Jerk defines America as the land of opportunity and the home of lawsuits.
So dumb yet incredibly endearing, The Jerk loves to live in the absurdities of life as we follow a character who just navigates through the world and has everything happen to him. The silliness is part of the charm of what this film provides audiences, but yet it has a real emotional core to it that we see both at the beginning and the end of the film. Not all of the jokes necessarily hit, but at least we have Steve Martin giving it his all and making this film work as much as it could.
