Jason Kelly (Zac Efron) is a straight laced corporate attorney who is planning a marriage to his controlling fiancee Meredith Goldstein (Julianne Hough), while he is attending his grandmother’s funeral he re-acquaints himself with his Grandfather Dick Kelly (Robert DeNiro) whom he used to be very close to as a child but he has had no contact with for a number of years. In order to try and re-establish some form of bond DeNiro asks Efron to drive him on his upcoming trip from Georgia to Florida and despite the pressure from Hough he reluctantly accepts.

Dirty Grandpa starts right from this point in an endless cycle of crudity and close to the bone jokes covering the usual sex and drug references but pushing the boundaries as far as Nazi references and child molestation. Yet strangely it does so without ever really offending or overstepping the mark (unless you’re very prude) and I found myself laughing at some of the gags although perhaps that was in a, so bad it’s humerous, way. Maybe it’s because it’s DeNiro putting in another off center role that he seems to be doing more often than makes it funnier than it should be. Or, maybe it was the influence of director Dan Mazer who co–wrote both Borat and Bruno with Sacha Baron Cohen so perhaps the crassness shouldn’t be a surprise.

As with many other movies in this genre the film is inconsistent, borderline ridiculous and in many ways pointless yet there was a good chemistry between Efron and DeNiro, the comedy, even if it wasn’t great, was well timed and gave some credibility to the bonding moments that the two characters have.

The supporting cast all do what they need to with Aubrey Plaza’s turn as the oversexed Lenore standing out from the rest but it’s still a by the numbers raunchy comedy that flatters to deceive and when the jokes do arrive there are too many misses over the number of hits to raise it above mediocrity yet looking at the box office figures it made a lot of money so don’t be surprised if a sequel appears in the next year or two.

DJ Speaks: 4.5 out Of 10