The Best ’70s Comedy Ever Is On Netflix And It’s Your Last Chance To Stream It
There are too many classic Steve Martin comedies to count, so maybe the best way to pick the next one to watch is to choose the ones that are about to leave your streaming service. If you’re a Netflix subscriber, now is your chance to check out Martin’s 1979 film The Jerk, which is set to leave the platform in January. The film is definitely a comedic showcase for Steve Martin, and it is considered a comedy classic of the 1970s.
The Jerk is written by Steve Martin himself, who also stars as Navin R. Johnson. Navin is a guileless white guy raised by a black family in Mississippi who is shocked to learn that he is not, in fact, black. Upon this revelation, Navin embarks on a journey to uncover his true identity, starting by venturing to St. Louis to work at a gas station. Here, he comes up with the idea of Opti-Grab, a glasses-related invention that makes him unimaginably rich.
However, Navin quickly finds himself in trouble when he loses his fortune completely when Opti-Grab is hit with a lawsuit. What follows is a hilarious journey where Navin continues on to discover himself and form relationships in the world. Steve Martin, as always, is in top comedic form in The Jerk and definitely nails the tricky balancing act of playing what could easily be an overly offensive character.
Carl Reiner handles directing duties on The Jerk, while Carl Gottlieb and Michael Elias co-wrote the script with Martin. The film has a great supporting cast that includes Bernadette Peters, M. Emmet Walsh, Caitlin Adams, Mabel King, Richard Ward, Bill Macy, and Jackie Mason. The top-notch cast helps to balance out the zanier sides of Martin’s character, making for a well-rounded comedy ensemble.
The Jerk was a big hit right from the beginning, receiving great reviews and gradually solidifying itself over time as a comedy classic. The film is praised for balancing absurdity with a clever script, and Martin was particularly praised for his performance as Navin. Not only did the film get great reviews from critics and audiences, but it was also a massive box office smash hit.
The Jerk was produced on a shoestring budget of around $4 million and managed to pull in over $73 million at the domestic box office and $100 million at the global box office. This earned it the spot as the eighth-highest-grossing movie of that year, and it still is one of Steve Martin’s most purely profitable projects to this day. Funnily enough, even Stanley Kubrick was a fan of the film, with his wife Christiane saying it was even one of his favorite films of all time.
Getting an endorsement from Stanley Kubrick is a pretty high honor, so Steve Martin definitely did something right with The Jerk. While the racial humor in the film may be seen as a bit insensitive by modern standards, the film is notably not mean-spirited, and Martin’s character is portrayed as completely oblivious, making his obvious insensitivities the butt of the joke. In any case, you can always expect Martin to go all-in to provide a hilarious performance, and that’s exactly what he does here.
If you missed out on The Jerk or if you haven’t seen it and are curious why Stanley Kubrick even loved it so much, make sure to check it out on Netflix before it leaves. For a more recent Martin performance, make sure to check out the most recent season of Only Murders in the Building. That series is currently streaming on Hulu.
