Critical response Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 61% based on 109 reviews, with an average rating of 5.52/10. The site's critics consensus states: "Never quite as funny as it wants to be,
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa still offers viewers the timeless pleasures of seeing an old man get his privates stuck in a vending machine."
Metacritic, gave it a weighted average score of 54 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. The film was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the
86th Academy Awards, but lost to the biographical drama
Dallas Buyers Club. Scott Foundas of
Variety gave the film a positive review, saying "
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa shows there's still comic life in this decade-old franchise - provided, of course, the sight of a senior citizen getting his penis caught in a vending machine is the kind of thing that brings a smile to your face." Amy Nicholson of
LA Weekly gave the film a C, saying "The joke is really on Knoxville, who, despite flinging himself through a glass wall and rigging up a fake poo-sprayer in his pants, gets fewer laughs than his boy sidekick." Elizabeth Weitzman of
New York Daily News gave the film a negative review, saying "Knoxville and the perfectly cast Nicoll have great chemistry throughout. But longtime "
Jackass" director Jeff Tremaine consistently cuts away too quickly, undermining each joke in order to rush on to the next." Michael O'Sullivan of
The Washington Post gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Although we're allowed the perverse pleasure of watching Irving commit one inappropriate act after another, our sense of horror/delight dissipates after each one." Peter Keough of
The Boston Globe gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Though at times it grows predictable and more inane than outrageous,
Bad Grandpa gets more than its share of cheap laughs." Colin Covert of the
Star Tribune gave the film four out of four stars, saying "
Bad Grandpa has the thrill of a dirty joke, brilliantly told. This film is emphatically not for everyone, but if it's not for you, too bad." Scott Bowles of
USA Today gave the film three out of four stars, saying "
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa not only stands as the best installment (by bounds) of Johnny Knoxville's hidden-camera franchise; it's one of the sharpest comedies of the year." Alonso Duralde of
The Wrap gave the film a positive review, saying "When the three-act structure gets shoved to the side for fun and games,
Bad Grandpa delivers some of the heartiest laughs I've had all year."
Owen Gleiberman of
Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B−, saying "You'll occasionally laugh out loud, but the heart of the movie is safe enough to chuckle at." R. Kurt Osenlund of
Slant Magazine gave the film a half a star out of four, saying "A choppy, feature-length progression of crude, predictable gags,
Bad Grandpa plays like a variety show, and yet its main attraction is barely funny enough to warrant his own brief sketch." Sam Adams of
Time Out New York gave the film two out of five stars, saying "Apart from a handful of physical stunts and the penultimate biker-bar setup, Knoxville never puts himself at risk, and the imbalance of power curdles the imperative to laugh at the rubes."
Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "It's not really a movie. It's Johnny Knoxville and his Jackass crew faking out real people into believing he's 86-year-old Irving Zisman, an old fart bag traveling cross-country." Peter Hartlaub of the
San Francisco Chronicle gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Some of the pranks are masterfully executed; the beauty pageant and a disastrous funeral near the beginning stand out. But on the whole,
Bad Grandpa can't locate a consistent groove." Betsy Sharkey of the
Los Angeles Times gave the film three and a half stars out of five, saying "The film has a story complete with a beginning, middle and end. It has some acting and emotion. And most shocking of all - it has empathy."
Neil Genzlinger of
The New York Times gave the film three and a half stars out of five, saying "It's hard to score big laughs with hidden-camera material these days because there has been so much of it since the "
Jackass" TV show, but Mr. Knoxville and his young sidekick still land a few jaw-droppers." Amy Nicholson of
The Village Voice gave the film a negative review, saying "By Jackass standards,
Bad Grandpa is benign—it's neither as fun nor as thrilling as watching Knoxville play tetherball with a beehive." Linda Barnard of the
Toronto Star gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying "Fans of the MTV series and related flicks will be quite entertained by this latest extrusion from the Jackass factory. But like the lime-green bingo dabber contents Irving drinks down to the horror of his seatmates, it's an acquired taste." Kyle Ryan of
The A.V. Club gave the film a B−, saying "No one will ever mistake the Jackass franchise for good cinema, but it never aspired to that. It was always about allowing the gleeful anarchy of the TV series to escape the constraints of television — to be more outrageous, gross, and profane than the FCC would ever allow." Steve Rose of
The Guardian gave the film three out of five stars, saying "
Sacha Baron Cohen's
Borat set the bar very high for this type of narrative-driven prankery, and in comparison,
Bad Grandpa comes across as disjointed and aimless."
Box office Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa grossed $102,003,019 in North America, and $48,900,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $150,903,019. In North America, the film opened to #1 in its first weekend, with $32,055,177. In its second weekend, the film dropped to number two, grossing an additional $20,010,303. In its third weekend, the film stayed at number two, grossing $11,326,977. In its fourth weekend, the film dropped to number five, grossing $7,421,536.
Home media Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa was released on
DVD and
Blu-ray on January 28, 2014, in its theatrical version and an unrated version.
Bad Grandpa .5 A version of the film with unused footage, titled
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa .5, includes over 40 minutes of additional outtakes and interviews, and premiered June 15, 2014, on
MTV. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 8, 2014. ==References==