Robert De Niro has slummed before, but this is the nadir of his career. He takes his rigid grandson (Zac Efron) on a trip full of substance abuse, sexual encounters and other hopefully-shocking stuff. The script tries desperately to be raunchy and outrageous, but most of it’s not funny. De Niro cusses shamelessly and acts offensively, while Efron lacks any comic fun in his straight-laced reactions (although he flashes his buffness several times). The plot (learning to relax and follow his true self) follows the most trite path ever. To its credit, some of the supporting characters are fun and the pace never lags, but the movie’s effort to be excessive is just embarrassing. If you must see an octogenarian out of control, see Johnny Knoxville as BAD GRANDPA. It’s genuinely hilarious and even a little sweet.
(2 / 5)