Robert De Niro's 'Worst Movie' Is Defying The Odds And Killing It On Netflix
Robert De Niro is one of the most celebrated and accomplished actors in film history, with classics like "Taxi Driver," Raging Bull," "Godfather Part II," "The Deer Hunter" and others among those in his epic filmography. But not every project he's been involved with has been a classic, and the 2016 comedy "Dirty Grandpa" is considered one of De Niro's worst films ever, if not his absolute worst. It has a 10% rating from professional reviewers and a 44 % audience approval score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the film — which also stars Zac Efron and Aubrey Plaza — has been a surprisingly strong performer on Netflix recently, landing in the streaming service's top ten most-viewed titles in the United States for the May 22 – May 28 week.
De Niro plays Dick Kelly, the titular grandfather of groom-to-be Jason Kelly (Efron). Dick asks Jason to drive him to Florida for Spring Break immediately after the death of Dick's wife, and as one could imagine, all kinds of hijinks ensue from there. The film is filled with cringe-worthy moments, from offensive slurs and imagery to repeated scenes where Dick tries to sleep with Plaza's character, who is several decades younger than him. To say it's an uncomfortable watch would be quite an understatement.
In fact, Pete Hammond of Deadline hammered the movie for its misogyny, racism, and homophobia and questioned why De Niro agreed to take part in the film before flatly declaring, "'Dirty Grandpa' is not just the worst movie he has ever been in, but it may be the worst movie anyone has ever been in."
Dirty Grandpa was far from a box office flop, earning more than $100 million
"Dirty Grandpa" has a star-studded cast: alongside Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, and Aubrey Plaza were Jason Mantzoukas, Dermot Mulroney, Zoey Deutch, Julianne Hough, and Danny Glover. Despite the wall-to-wall-offensive content and terrible reception from critics, "Dirty Grandpa" earned almost ten times what it cost to make. By the time it departed theaters, the film made more than $105 million on a modest $11.5 million budget, much of which probably went to pay the salaries of the talented cast.
Jason Bailey of Flavorwire compared the film unfavorably to director and lead actor Tom Green's 2001 comedy "Freddy Got Fingered," and noted that "Dirty Grandpa" was the low point of De Niro's late-career work. Bailey rightfully criticized the film's constant punching down on people of color, the disabled, LGBTQ individuals, and women.
Bailey concluded, "'Dirty Grandpa' is one of those movies that's equal parts bad and baffling; it seems to have been written and directed by alien life forms who read YouTube comment sections for a week and drew these conclusions about human behavior."
Why did De Niro agree to star in Dirty Grandpa?
With all of this in mind, it's only logical to wonder why Robert De Niro would sign the dotted line to feature so prominently in "Dirty Grandpa" in the first place. After all, it's not like he was a struggling up-and-coming actor at the time of the film's release. He was a bonafide Hollywood legend with countless outstanding features on his résumé, so why did he take on this film that earned him a Razzie nomination in 2017 in the Worst Actor category?
De Niro has yet to publicly offer an explanation for his decision to star in "Dirty Grandpa," but his co-star Dermot Mulroney has theorized on what led him to go for it. "He must have a great sense of humor, and it seems to be he just goes from project to project, and I really admire that about him," Mulroney told Metro during a 2016 chat, adding, "Maybe it shows you just how hard it is to make a great movie, because there's the greatest actor who's not always in the greatest movies."
We may never know the exact reasons why Robert De Niro chose to add "Dirty Grandpa" to his filmography or why it has become such a runaway hit on Netflix. Nevertheless, the facts remain that the legendary actor is indeed in it, and the film is an undeniable yet surprising streaming favorite.