Jason Krawczyk’slast directorial effort is 2015’s punchy “bullets, blood, and Bingo” flickHe Never Died. His comeback project, the Tubi originalDon’t Mess With Grandma(akaSunsetSuperman), hopes to channel the same indie action gumption. It’s a home invasion action-comedy starring the indomitableMichael Jai White, who exudes his typical kick-ass charms as he defends a helpless old lady.Humor exists in the form of bumbling crooks meeting their musclebound match, but overall execution lacks energy, and consistency withers. Corny cuteness becomes the film’s calling card as Jai White womps baddies between sympathetic senior caretaking — which is never as entertaining as that sentence sounds.
Jasper (White) is a Meals on Wheels driver for “Trusted Trays” who frequently visits his lonesome and demanding Granna (Jackie Richardson). On his latest stay, while sipping rum and fixing sink pipes, masked stooges break in the front window. Jasper makes quick work of the inept home invaders thanks to his decorated military background, only for ringleader Stan (Billy Zane) to rally his troops outside. Unfortunately for Jasper, his night’s not getting any easier when Stan’s fully-loaded reinforcements arrive. Like a good grandson,Jasper defends his Granna’s home and keeps her none the wiser— bruising and incapacitating anyone dumb enough to enter Granna’s domain.
‘Don’t Mess With Grandma’ Can’t Maintain Its Concept for So Long
That’s the gimmick. Can Jasper dispatch below-average country thugs without Granna realizing her precious homestead is under siege? It’s a modest joke when Jasper initially fights back, humorously shushing his nearly unconscious foes or popping Granna’s hearing aids out. Jackie Richardson plays aloof and unbothered with a humorous lack of old-lady patience, butthe overall concept only sustains for so long. Jai White is doing his damndest to elevate this one-trick pony of an idea, pouring his grandmother’s blood-tinted baths or throwing himself from second-story windows to avoid her realization — it’s just not enough. The humor of Krawczyk’s scenario holds limited juice before repetition settles in, impervious even to Jai White’s typically impenetrable wits.
Doubly frustrating are the fight sequences, which play as lethargic and underwhelming.Ess Hödlmoser’strained soldier, Pam, is the only main baddie who can keep pace with Jasper by design, but even their bedroom grapples hit the ceiling. Action choreography has clear restrictions, relying on camera trickery more than crisp martial arts professionalism. Jai White is mustering every ounce of bone-breaking proficiency as a one-person army threatened more by exhaustion than Stan’s cronies, only for uninspired cinematography to undersell his expertise.Don’t Mess With Grandma’sdenim-vested Ronnie James Dio disciple is a far cry fromBlack Dynamite’sKung Fu master, andJai White himself can’t save the production’s mediocre combat excitement.
‘Don’t Mess With Grandma’ Also Isn’t as Funny as It Needs to Be
Humor is subjective, butDon’t Mess With Grandmaisn’t remarkably funny. Billy Zane’s Stan is aNed Flanders clonewith a fake-as-hell mustache, played as a blue-collar bozo like there’s an inside joke we don’t know. Krawczyk’s sense of humor is a lighthearted purgatory,stuck in this comedy middle ground that’s not edgy enough to land its punches or sappy enough to steal some smiles. The film settles into a numbing cycle by presenting Jasper’s adversaries as non-threats who can’t hit targets, properly tend to wounds, or pose any reasonable danger to Granna’s protector. There’s a wholesomeness to Jasper’s grandmotherly adoration and momentary giggles when he catches himself drunkenly rambling, but disappointment overtakes once you realize that’s all the film has to offer. It’s a linear experience that operates on a flattened wavelength, missing adrenaline spikes or punches into second gear.
It’s a shame because genuine laughs are scattered throughoutDon’t Mess With Grandma.LetterkennyalumnEvan Sternplays a squeaky-voiced enemy with agitated outbursts of silliness, instigating a few comical spats between his cohorts. Rufus the Dog is an unexpected MVP, whether reconciling his differences with Jasper throughout the night or playing house guardian with hilariously violent results. Krawczyk’s intentions are humble, and his dissection of home invasion tropes is not without clever callbacks (You’re Next, for example), but meager executions only exist on base values.It’s listless and repetitive as Jasper bests challengers one-by-one, which in itself is a commentary on dumbass villain types, but falls victim to the same fate instead of production blasé meta entertainment.
Don’t Mess With Grandmapulls its punches as an action-comedy without total immersion into either subgenre. Michael Jai White’s million-dollar presence and fancy fighting techniques aren’t powerful enough to overcome dull scripting and odd performance choices. It’s happy with formulaic approaches and achieves its ultimate goal of being the class clown of indie action releases, but it doesn’t have much more to add. We can have “nice” movies — that’s not the problem. Krawczyk struggles to execute a “nice for the sake of nice” movie beyond that reason, which feels like a movie stuck in idle that rolls from start to finish.
Don’t Mess With Grandma
Don’t Mess With Grandma achieves the simplest of action-comedy pleasures but can’t elevate either component to an exciting degree, no matter how hard Michael Jai White tries.
When Jasper visits his grandmother Granna to fix her leaky sink, a group of bumbling thieves breaks into her home. Jasper, a decorated marksman, quietly handles the situation while keeping Granna oblivious to the chaos. With plenty of slapstick humor, witty banter, and surprising violence, the film blends action and comedy in a lighthearted home invasion thriller.
