Word: films
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...competitors after they won the first round in Iowa. The two men benefited from the upset factor: the press loves to champion an underdog who comes out on top. A Carter or a Bush attracts the media because his pitch is geared toward images, which are easily captured on film, not specific issues that often bore and confuse voters who are not directly affected...
...participated in The Jerk has anything to take pride in, least of all Martin. But unlike Navin, Martin most likely will not be sued for marketing a faulty product (the "Optigrab" causes 10 million consumers to go cross-eyed) and will pocket a tidy sum from this film. Navin winds up in the gutter; Martin will probably purchase a new ski chalet in Aspen. Yet, in the end, Navin may end up the richer man--his adopted family and Marie find him on Skid Row and shower him with affirmation and love. As for Steve, if Martin the Writer continues...
...that's only the serious, dramatic side of this versatile film. For comedy-lovers, Martin et. al have enriched The Jerk with a veritable cornucopia of third-grade potty humor. There are jokes about farting and saying "shit" and discovering sexual organs, to cite just a few. And for the more sophisticated viewer, say, a seventh-grader, The Jerk features a condom falling out of Navin's wallet when he meets Marie, not to mention jokes about Navin's naivete--like his misconception about the meaning of the phrase "blow job" or his run-in with a man named "Iron...
Granted, Martin's acting talent surfaces periodically, especially when he adopts the mien of one of his reportoire of nightclub personalities. A few minutes of film, chronicling Navin's first job as a gas station attendant in St. Louis, for example, allow Martin to strut his stuff on familiar territory; but those short scenes are eclipsed by Martin's overall prostitution of his skills in the better (or worse, as the case may be) part of The Jerk...
REINER, OF COURSE, is ultimately culpable for mistakes like that. Halfway through the film, one begins to wonder whether he wandered off the set between each "Action!" and "That's a take." Before Navin acquires his fortune by inventing the "Optigrab"--a device which holds eyeglasses to the face by running a piece of wire from the bridge of the glasses to the tip of nose--Marie leaves him, apparently because he is not wealthy. As she composes her farewell note, a heavily-made-up Peters cries crocodile tears--as mascara and eyeshadow smear their way down her face. Reiner...