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‘Dirty Grandpa’ Movie Review: Overwhelmingly Panned [Spoilers]

By Lisa Hale
Published on: 12:01 PST, Jan 23, 2016

The Dirty Grandpa movie, released on January 22, 2016, lives up to its name. It is just downright dirty. The film was released by LionsGate, written by John Phillips, and directed by Dan Mazer. It stars Zac Efron as Jason Kelly; Robert DeNiro as Dick Kelly, Jason’s grandfather; Aubrey Plaza as Lenore; and Zoey Deutch as Shadia, Jason’s love interest, according to Wikipedia.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead!

Robert De Niro takes on the role of Dick, a former Army general whose wife has recently passed away. He is a grandfather, but not a stereotypical one. The man is foul-mouthed, crude, homophobic, and racist. Early on in the movie, his grandson, Jason, walks in on him to find Dick pleasuring himself in a reclining chair while watching an X-rated movie.

Jason is a corporate lawyer who works for his dad. He is engaged to Meredith and very near his wedding day when Dick informs him that he needs Jason to drive him down to his vacation rental in Florida. Dick thinks he is marrying the wrong woman and wants to drag Jason down during Spring Break to encourage him to follow his dream. Jason is not too happy about this inconvenience, especially because he suspects Dick is lying about having his drivers license suspended.

Dick’s ulterior motive shows up as soon as the men get on the road, reports Clevescene. He immediately starts flirting with every woman they meet, hoping to get lucky. He is obsessed with having sex, since he hadn’t had any for 15 years. He even hits on Lenore, even though he is old enough to be her grandfather. He accosts Jason with a golf club because Jason calls him grandpa in front of some pretty women on the golf course.

The unlikely pair end up heading to Daytona Beach, following Lenore with her friends. Dick tricks Jason into taking crystal meth, which ends up with Jason naked on the sand and then in jail. Jason then hooks up with a former classmate, Shadia. Dick continues to try to get lucky with Lenore and also continues to try to separate Jason from his fiancée, who is not too happy about the entire escapade.

Oversexed Lenore is obsessed with having sex with Dick, and constantly talks about what she is going to do with this “dirty, dirty grandpa.”

Director Mazer attempts to provide a film with the stark shock of Hangover, but misses by a mile. The intentionally offensive scenes just don’t work. DeNiro’s Richard Kelly is just too much of a creep. The whole movie plot seems to be Dick getting laid one more time before he dies and the lovey dovey, fairytale ending does not fit with the rest of the film.

Dirty Grandpa has been universally panned. The New York Times said that “[watching Dirty Grandpa] is like watching a friend’s mediocre improv troupe to an extended spring break sketch. And your friend just happens to be Robert DeNiro.”

The Roger Ebert website says, “[Dirty Grandpa’s] crudity is relentless. The subjects of its indifferently crafted and callously executed jokes include roofie-ing, crack smoking, child molestation, jailhouse rape, graphic depictions of penises in the shape of a swastika being displayed to a rabbi, and more.”

The Verge chimed in with “you’ve been warned. Everyone else should steer clear. The 90 minutes you spend watching Robert De Niro prowl Florida for horny college girls the day after his beloved wife’s death can’t be recovered.”

The Chicago Sun Times gave the film zero stars and summed the Dirty Grandpa movie up succinctly.

“If Dirty Grandpa isn’t the worst movie of 2016, I have some serious cinematic torture in my near future.”

But Uproxx gets the last word.

“This film needs to be studied so that what’s depicted here can never, ever happen again.”

Have you seen the film Dirty Grandpa? Did you like it? Did it live up to its name?

[Photo via YouTube]

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Zac Efron Robert De Niro Aubrey Plaza
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