The Jerk (1979)

Directed by Carl Reiner. Starring Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Mabel King, Bill Macy, Catlin Adams, Jackie Mason, M. Emmet Walsh, Richard Ward, Dick O’Neill, Maurice Evans. [R]

Martin’s supremely naïve Navin R. Johnson, “born a poor black child,” goes out into the world to find his fortune (and his “special purpose”), stumbles across circus daredevils, crazed snipers, late-night duets with Bernadette Peters, lawsuits filed against him by the director of this picture, and more. Designed around the sort of comic persona that Martin excelled at onstage as a stand-up, there’s no real story here, just a string of strange and often hysterical situations and illogical inferences. Scenario construction can be crude, and it runs thin even at just a little over ninety minutes, but the sheer number of belly laughs ensures its comedy classic status. Martin wrote the screenplay (his first) with Carl Gottlieb and Michael Elias. Evans’ final film.

80/100