***Steve Martin’s breakout comedy***

A homeless mentally-challenged man (Steve Martin) shares his amusing tale of rags-to-riches-to-hobo with flashbacks. Catlin Adams plays a stunt rider at a carnival who has the hots for Navin (Martin) while Bernadette Peters plays a more important woman in his life.

“The Jerk” (1979) has several laugh-out-loud scenes like the eventual confrontation between Patty (Catlin) and Marie (Peters), but there are also some flat, overlong parts, like when Navin departs the mansion in the last act. “Forrest Gump” (1994) was obviously inspired by “The Jerk” and made a more serious, popular picture. Jim Carrey also took a lot of inspiration from Martin and “The Jerk” to forge the even funnier “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” (1994).

The movie runs 1 hour, 34 minutes and was shot in the Los Angeles area.

GRADE: B

Steve Martin famously aimed for a laugh on every page of _The Jerk_'s script, and he just might have hit the mark. There's no reason for this to work as well as it does - it's intentionally stupid, from the ridiculous opening lines ("I was born a poor black child") to the absurd rags-to-riches-to-rags climax ("all I need is this lamp") - but man, does it succeed in spite of itself.

Sheer quotability is partially to thank, as I just touched upon. The film is swamped with riotously good lines, perfectly timed and delivered; an extra-long highlight reel of endearingly dumb quips. Martin himself also elevates the picture, oafishly stumbling through a world that seems tailor-made to take advantage of his type. He's great on his own, the eternally optimistic naive kid (with shockingly white hair) whose pure nature leads him to believe a crazed would-be assassin is deliberately blowing holes in nearby oil cans and not just missing his target, but he's even better when he gets together with Bernadette Peters. She's just as simple-minded as he is, which makes them doubly gullible but also almost unbearably sweet together. The pair's sudden break from zaniness to share a uke-and-voice duet on a darkened beach is a charming touch, topped by a note-perfect visual sucker punch that instantly reminds us what we're watching. As a couple, they're thoroughly silly but also capable of toying with real emotional depth; not an easy balance to strike.

_The Jerk_ might not be as potent today as it was forty years ago - comedy has changed quite a bit since 1979 - but it's still astonishingly efficient, loaded with sizzling bits and punchlines, and tremendously influential. Consider it a more innocent, but no less hilarious, predecessor to _Dumb and Dumber_. A personal favorite.