Movie

The Jerk

1979 · 94 min

A silly, good-natured romp of escalating gags that keeps you grinning even as the hero loses everything.

Tagline: A rags to riches to rags story.
Overview: After discovering he's not really black like the rest of his family, likable dimwit Navin Johnson sets off on a hilarious misadventure that takes him from rags to riches and back again. The slaphappy jerk strikes it rich, but life in the fast lane isn't all it's cracked up to be and, in the end, all that really matters to Johnson is his true love.

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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: absurdstrength 3 of 3
lightstrength 3 of 3
warmstrength 2 of 3
satiricalstrength 1 of 3
Pacing: brisk, 3 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: easy-watch, 2 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: identity
love
family
class
greed
Places: road trip
big city
small town
Era: contemporary
Audience: teen
Form: nonlinear
Content intensity: Gore none
Language mild
Violence mild
Sex mild

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	3
Horror	1
Humour	9
Realism	4
Romance	5
Tension	2
Darkness	2
Complexity	3
Emotional weight	4

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Where to watch in the UK

Rent or buy

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Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres: comedy
Directed by: Carl Reiner
Written by: Steve Martin, Michael Elias, Carl Gottlieb
Starring: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams, Mabel King, Richard Ward, Carl Gottlieb, Dick Anthony Williams, Bill Macy
Music: Jack Elliott
Cinematography: Victor J. Kemper
Runtime: 94 min
Country: United States of America
Languages: English

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The Jerk

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