Anyone who grew up in the 90s knew about The Jerky Boys. They were everywhere for a very short period of time. They were known for their prank calls. They would adopt funny voices and call various businesses and do something funny. My friends and I had their CDs and listened to them all the time. We even tried making our own, with a ton of characters we created ourselves, but we just weren't funny.
When my friends and I found out there was going to be a Jerky Boys movie, we planned out how our day was going to go when the film was released in February of 1995. We would get home from school, we would do any homework we were given (or not do it which was far more common), we would then eat dinner, followed by one of our parents taking us to see the film.
Well, it didn't go all that well. In fact, it was kind of a disaster. None of my friends' parents would take us to the film. The parents went a step further and forbade them from seeing the film at all. This meant, when my father told me he would take me to see the film, my friends were out. If I were to be honest, I was kind of glad they weren't able to go because they liked to talk through the films and I didn't.
I thought the film was great because of course, I did. I was 15. This film was right in my wheelhouse. I thought the film was funny. I mean, my dad laughed and he didn't laugh at most of the films I chose. We did laugh at JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY but who hasn't? Me finding it funny was the only thing that really mattered to me. I didn't care about the filmmaking. I didn't care about performances outside of them making me laugh. I didn't even care if it was well written outside of the jokes. It made me laugh and have a good time so it was a good film in my book.
When I got home that night, my friends came over and I told them all about it. Of course, the prank calls were what we wanted but it was also the humor outside those calls. The white guy's mother has some great comedic moments and Alan Arkin kills every scene he is in. I also thought the idea of two guys trying to hoodwink the mob so they can have a night on the town. The film hit all the right buttons.
The film was released on VHS and Laserdisc over a year after the film was released in theaters. Back in the day, this is how films were released. The film would play in first run theaters first. The film would stay in first run theaters for a long time. It would play in those theaters for as long as the film was making money. Once it left the first run theaters, it would go into second run theaters. These theaters were smaller, usually family owned, and they had lower prices than the first run theaters. Many times, these theaters would only charge a dollar or two for the film. Then it would hit home video, then to pay per view, then to pay cable, and then to network tv.
Anyway, the film hit home video a little over a year after its theatrical release. This was normal if the film was a bigger release, but this is a smaller film that faded from theaters pretty fast. I have no idea why Disney waited that long to release the film on home video but they did. We got both a VHS and Laserdisc release. Then, radio silence on the physical media front in the US. We haven't even had a DVD release here. There were a few DVD releases in Europe but that's it. The film was released to various streaming sites in the 2010s, which is where I watched it for this review.
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In the end, THE JERKY BOYS: THE MOVIE is a time capsule of the mid-90s while being a fun watch. You will laugh a few times but you won't hate the film. It's definitely worth one watch.
Here are the notes I took while watching the film:
-We didn't see their faces until this film.
-If you take out the narration, it doesn't really change the film that much.
-I think most kids who grew up in the 90s prank called at least two people.
-I laughed when the mom of the white guy asked who his new friend was "Oh, that's Kamal". Then his mom smacks Kamal on the side of the head and tells him "That's a warning."
-I don't remember the mullet being a hairstyle all the way in 1994.
-William Hickey is always great.
-Not only does the white guy have a mullet but he also has a hat with a flipped up brim.
-James Lorinz is in this? Hell yes! He was the lead in the Frank Henenlotter classic, FRANKHOOKER. He also was trying to get a film made about a cop who has a giant ice cream cone for a head. The film was going to be called "Swirlee". I am not making that up either.
NOTE ON A NOTE: There is a short film Lorinz shot in the late 80s as precursor to the full length film he wanted to make that is actually pretty damn good. You can watch it on YouTube:
-Kamal is choking on something and the white guy punches him in the stomach multiple times. This seems to work.
-"I'll rest when Rizzo (the fake mobster our heroes make up) is caught" is an actual line in this film.
-The guy who directed this, James Melkonian, also directed the 70s head banger classic, THE STONED AGE.
-Johnny calls Alan Arkin " a fucking milky licker" What the fuck does that mean?
-I love how James Lorinz tells Alan Arkin "We used to play baseball together" and then hands Arkin a photo of our two heroes in baseball uniforms and Lorinz is wearing a t-shirt that says "bat boy" on it.
-Arkin's character turns his enemies into hot dogs. That is so great. They even have pictures of the mobsters he's killed on his wall with a picture below each picture with what kind of hot dog they were turned into. Our heroes then use the hot dogs to repel down the side of a building.
-Out of nowhere Ozzy Osbourne cameo.
-If our heroes had left the club instead of just standing off to the side, the film would have taken a turn we wouldn't have seen.
-Paul Bartell too? This film has quite a few famous people in cameo roles.
-The mobsters up the white guy's mom's feet inside empty laundry detergent boxes and then filled them with cement. I have never seen a mobster do that. Kind of frugal.
-The shot of our heroes in the middle of Times Square is brilliant and impressive. The camera looks up at them while moving around them. We can see all of Times Square all around them.
-The climax of the film just ends. We see them run away from the mobsters and then a newscast comes on telling us everything we should have seen. The mobsters get arrested, the hot dog company has to recall all of their hot dogs, etc.
-The film ends with our heroes prank calling President Bill Clinton. He was shot from far away as he talks on the phone with someone. We are lead to believe it is our heroes but it isn't.
-I love the THE JERKY BOYS: THE MOVIE. I saw it in the theater with my father and loved it then. I haven't seen the film is decades so this was almost like a brand new viewing. I remember a few things from the film but not that much. The film
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