The Jerk (R, 1979)

He was born a poor black child … goes the ridiculous and oft-quoted premise of this cockamamie, loveable cult comedy. But Steve Martin's Navin is no jerk; he's simply very very stupid. And so it takes him time to realize that he's different from his black sharecropper family. Although his mother tells him that she would love him if he were "the color of a baboon's ass," Navin feels he has to find himself and follow the beat of a different drummer. He gets a job working for a kind but coarse gas station owner (Jackie Mason) and engages in various low-I.Q. mishaps. After a madman randomly decides to shoot him, Navin flees and joins the circus where he gets a sexual initiation from a tough-as-nails dominatrix motorcyclist (Catlin Adams) and then meets and falls head-over-heels for Bernadette Peters' fetching ingenue. But although the two are obviously made for each other, it's Navin's financial, not mental, shortcomings that prove to be the stumbling block in this rags-to-riches-to-rags story.

Movies like Dumb and Dumber present stupidity masquerading as comedy and movies like Forrest Gump beat you over the head with the equation that witlessness is close to virtuousness. THE JERK stands out as a gem of buffoonery that neither strives towards moralizing nor stoops to obnoxiousness. With slapsticky lowbrow so often accompanying mean-spiritedness and vulgarity, here's a movie that combines genuine kindness with ludicrous low comedy.

While the comedy is broad and daffy, the characterizations are surprisingly authentic. Steve Martin is perfect as a witless fool who is open to all experiences. There's a touching relationship between Navin and his parents, especially his mother (Mabel King) who is warm and loving but not blind to his short-comings. The racial comedy is funny and fresh, even while it traffics in old stereotypes; After 30 years, there's very little in the movie that feels dated. While the middle of the film is somewhat weaker, the love story soon reinvigorates it. Bernadette Peters is terrific as a quirky, Mary Pickford-type sweetheart. And it makes perfect sense that the two get together, even though she is no ninny herself. When the couple becomes rich, their stab at lavish living is delightfully over the top (like when he tells a waiter "No more 1966. Let's splurge. Bring us some fresh wine."). Silly and also gracious, The Jerk, masterfully directed by Carl Reiner, is enduring farce.

Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Carl Reiner
Cast: Bernadette Peters, Jackie Mason, Steve Martin
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 94 minutes
Theatrical release: December 14, 1979
DVD release: July 26, 2005
MPAA Rating: R