The Jerk: 26th Anniversary Edition

Steve Martin's first starring feature film demonstrated that he was perfectly capable of transposing his patented brand of lunacy from small screen to large, and a quarter-century later it remains one of his best movies. The title character, played by Martin, is Navin R. Johnson, a near-moronic white man raised by poor black sharecroppers. Encouraged to make a life for himself, Navin leaves home and gets a job at a gas station (run by Jackie Mason!) where he invents a combination grip and nose brace for eyeglasses. This is only the beginning of a picaresque series of misadventures that finds him pursued by a crazed killer (M. Emmet Walsh) and subsequently taking refuge in a traveling carnival, where he takes up with a sexually voracious stunt rider (Catlin Adams) before meeting his true love, the beautiful Marie (Bernadette Peters). Martin, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jaws scripter Carl Gottlieb and other contributors, exhibits an uncanny ability to elicit sympathy (his hyperkinetic performance makes Navin a consistently and compulsively watchable character), and director Carl Reiner wisely surrounds Martin with talented performers who provide terrific foils for the standup comedian. The Jerk is an incredibly silly movie that borders on the puerile--not by accident, but by design (Martin knows exactly what he's doing and always pulls back just in time). Peters supplies the requisite love interest with typically waiflike charm, and her palpable chemistry with the star (whom she dated off-screen for some years following the making of this film) is one of The Jerk's delights. Making its second appearance on DVD, the film features a nice transfer, but paltry extras--a deleted scene, a play-along ukulele lesson, production notes, and a trailer. Recommended. (E. Hulse) [Blu-ray Review—Jan. 1, 2019—Shout! Factory, 94 min., R, Blu-ray: $34.95—Making its latest appearance on Blu-ray, 1979’s The Jerk features a fine transfer with DTS-HD 5.1 audio. Extras include new interviews with star Steve Martin and director Carl Reiner (27 min.), and with co-writers Carl Gottlieb and Michael Elias (25 min.), a 'Learn to Play ‘You Belong to Me’' how-to segment (7 min.), 'The Lost Film Strips of Father Carlos Las Vegas Cordova' spoof (5 min.), and radio spots. Bottom line: Martin’s first major vehicle looks sharp on Blu-ray.]