IMPRACTICAL JOKERS: THE MOVIE

Name: IMPRACTICAL JOKERS: THE MOVIE
Item: IMPRACTICAL JOKERS: THE MOVIE
Author: Tess Farrand

"Not So Funny, Too Lewd"

Content: -3 Excessive sex, violence, immorality, and/or worldview problems. (Sometimes excessive content such as violence is in otherwise redemptive movies.)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

IMPRACTICAL JOKERS: THE MOVIE is a comedy based on a popular TV program. In the show, four longtime friends from Staten Island (Joe, Murray, Q, and Sal) play crazy pranks, challenges and jokes on each other and strangers on the street. Each of the guys takes turns doing this while ordering each other to say and do silly and crazy things to the people on the street. In the movie, the pranks, challenges and jokes are connected by a slim story where the four guys try to get back in the good graces of pop star Paula Abdul. The movie shows the men challenging each other as they drive to Miami Beach, Florida to attend Paula Abdul’s upcoming show.

IMPRACTICAL JOKERS: THE MOVIE has a few clean, funny moments. However, many of the pranks, jokes and tasks aren’t funny. Also, the story about Paul Abdul tying the pranks together is very slim. Finally, the movie’s humor is marred by lots of foul language and some lewd pranks, tasks, instructions, situations, and comments. Media-wise viewers will find IMPRACTICAL JOKERS: THE MOVIE excessively immoral.

Content:

(PaPa, LLL, V, S, NN, A, DD, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Strong pagan worldview where four longtime friends make each other do practical jokes, pranks, and silly and/or crazy tasks, and follow silly and/or crazy instructions, all while making each other say silly or outrageous things

Foul Language:

23 obscenities (including one “f” word), two strong profanities, 13 light profanities, five “s” obscenities in a song over the end credits, and multiple vulgarities

Violence:

Some mostly comical violence and jeopardy includes man slaps another man, man is strapped to the wings of an old biplane as the plane does dips and rolls, and a man is zapped with a taser

Sex:

Some suggestive dialogue (woman says to plumber, “I need my pipes clean,” in a brief scene that’s meant to parody cheap porn movies and embarrass a friend), suggestive dancing and woman in skimpy outfit sits on man’s lap as curtain is opened and lets man’s family (including nieces and nephews) watch, man says several people lost their virginity in an older car he borrows, a fake party scene from a hotel door implies some hanky panky is going on in the room

Nudity:

Images of partial rear female nudity concerning some female exotic dancers, rear male nudity, upper male nudity, a cartoon graphic hides a naked man’s genitals, a man is shown to be wearing a thing, and images of female cleavage

Alcohol Use:

Some alcohol use

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking but a reference to cocaine, a reference to Ecstasy, and a reference to marijuana; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Strong miscellaneous immorality includes four men illegally sneak into a concert while posing as security guards, teenage character illegally pulls a fire alarm, four friends try to embarrass and humiliate each other (in a teasing manner), and four men repeatedly lie to and deceive

More Detail:

IMPRACTICAL JOKERS: THE MOVIE is a comedy based on a popular TV program, with the four longtime friends from the TV show playing new pranks on strangers and their each other, tied together by a slim story where the four guys try to get back in the good graces of pop star Paula Abdul. IMPRACTICAL JOKERS: THE MOVIE has a few clean, funny moments, but the story hangs together by a very slim thread and contains lots of foul language and some lewd, gross moments.

The movie opens with the four guys from Staten Island, Joe Gatto, James Murray, Brian Quinn, and Sal Vulcano, telling how they became friends in grade school. When they get to high school, they tried to sneak into a Paula Abdul concert by pretending to be security guards. They wrecked the concert, which ends with Paula yelling at them and promising to get even someday.

Twenty-seven years later, the guys have become popular for doing their crazy Reality TV show. In the program, the guys take turns pulling the same joke or prank on people on the street. While one guy does the prank, the other three guys secretly give him crazy, often uncomfortable instructions and tasks for interacting with the person or persons, including saying really stupid or outrageous things. If the man fails or taps out because a task or instruction is too hard to complete or too uncomfortable, he loses that round. At the end of the half hour program, they tally up the losses, and the big loser has to perform a difficult punishment prank or task. Sometimes the punishment task includes something the guy is particularly uncomfortable or scared of doing, like sifting through garbage or performing on stage in front of a live audience. The goal isn’t to embarrass or humiliate people on the street but to embarrass and humiliate each other. That said, the four guys repeatedly lie and deceive the people.

One day, the guys run into Paula Abdul at a Red Lobster restaurant. She doesn’t recognize Joe, Sal, Murray, or Quinn and offers them tickets to her big show coming up in Miami Beach, Florida. However, when they get the tickets, there are only three tickets to the show. So, the men decide to drive down to Miami Beach and do a prank competition for the three tickets. The man who fails to complete the most pranks or tasks on the road trip doesn’t get a ticket to Paula’s show.

The rest of the movie contains several rounds of pranks and tasks, along with some punishment tasks. For example, in one prank, each man has to read an obnoxious eulogy for a funeral to a stranger. If the stranger doesn’t like the eulogy and advises them to change it, the prankster loses. In another prank, each man must keep a passing motorist engaged in helping them with their stalled car. In that prank, three of the guys force the fourth guy to convince the motorist to walk around the stalled car several times with him.

IMPRACTICAL JOKERS: THE MOVIE has a few clean, funny moments. For example, the scene with one of the guys convincing a motorist to walk around the stalled car two or three times was pretty hilarious. The motorist turned out to be a really good sport, but he was clearly amused. However, many of the pranks, jokes and tasks aren’t funny, sometimes ending awkwardly. Also, the story about Paula Abdul that ties the pranks together is very slim. Finally, the movie’s humor is marred by lots of foul language and some lewd pranks, tasks, instructions, situations, and comments. One of the scenes, for example, involves a birthday celebration for Murray where several scantily dressed exotic dancers prance around Murray. One of them sits seductively on his lap. While this is happening, a curtain opens to reveal some of Murray’s family members, including a few underage nephews and nieces. Another prank involves Sal having to deliver a presentation to a professional conference where the video Sal shows turns out to be a video of his father and stepmother saying lewd lines of dialogue to one another, like actors out of cheap porno movie.

Thus, media-wise viewers will find IMPRACTICAL JOKERS: THE MOVIE excessively immoral and not entertaining enough to occupy their time.

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What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.