The Jerk (1979, Carl Reiner) (Patreon)

55/100

Never occurred to me until now, but this was something of an odd choice for Steve Martin's first star vehicle (which may explain in part why I didn't see it in theaters at the time; granted, I was only 11, but I vividly recall taking the bus by myself to see Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid a few years later). His stand-up persona—and if you're too young to remember, understand that he was a phenomenon as a stand-up in the late '70s, to an extent barely imaginable today—anyway, his established persona back then had a knowing quality, a sort of implicit compact with the audience: He would say and do stupid and/or silly things, but always in a way that foregrounded his awareness of how stupid and/or silly they were. A lot of this then-unique tone (which I think qualifies as early anti-comedy) was just in his inflection, which I realize now because he uses that particular inflection exactly twice in The Jerk, and it completely (if temporarily) alters how Navin comes across. You can see the radical difference in this clip, which initially showcases the earnestly goofy performance that Martin gives in 96% of the movie and then switches (at the bank) to the heavily italicized attitude that he always employed onstage. (You then see the latter again briefly when Navin is interviewed on TV.) They're really two completely different characters, with virtually nothing in common; Martin stops playing Navin for a moment and just does "Steve Martin." 

Frankly, I think he's funnier that way. A straight-up doofus isn't his forte, and The Jerk (title's meant ironically, I guess? Navin's too sweet to be much of a jerk even after he strikes it rich) mostly fails to capitalize on what made him special. (I think I laugh harder at his Muppet Movie cameo, also from '79, than I do at anything he does here.) Steeled myself for offensiveness during the opening "I was born a poor black child" business, and was relieved to find that Navin's whiteness is the target of the film's (affectionate) mockery; the jokes are still easy layups, though, rooted in the same stereotypes that fuel third-rate comics' routines ("but white guys drive a car like this"). I much prefer occasional absurdist moments like Marie singing with Navin as he plays the ukulele on the beach and then suddenly pulling a trumpet out of nowhere to accompany him. Or the elaborate wordplay of Navin's whispered confession that the four weeks and three days that he's known Marie feels to him like nine weeks and five days. Or Martin showing up under a pseudonym in a dual role as the cat juggler. There's inspired tomfoolery scattered throughout, but also an odd reluctance to lean into the slightly hostile, reflexive quality that had made Martin a superstar well before he launched his movie career. He's not nearly enough of a jerk in The Jerk. Been a long time since I last saw All of Me, but I think that's where he and Reiner finally got the balance right. (Though I do have a soft spot for Dr. Hfuhruhurr.)