The Jerky Boys: The Movie

For the soundtrack album, see The Jerky Boys (soundtrack).

The Jerky Boys: The Movie
Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by	James Melkonian
Produced by	Roger Birnbaum, Joe Roth
Written by	James Melkonian, Rich Wilkes John G. Brennan Kamal Ahmed
Starring	John G. Brennan Kamal Ahmed Alan Arkin
Music by	Ira Newborn
Cinematography	Ueli Steiger
Editing by	Dennis M. Hill
Studio	Caravan Pictures
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s)	February 3, 1995 (USA)
Running time	81 min.
Language	English
Budget	$8 million
Box office	$7,555,256

The Jerky Boys: The Movie, also known as The Jerky Boys, is a 1995 comedy/crime film starring John G. Brennan and Kamal Ahmed, best known as the comedy duo The Jerky Boys.

The film features two men, Johnny B. and Kamal, aka "the Jerky Boys", two self-described "low-lifes from Queens", who get into trouble with the Mafia when one of their prank calls leads them into a money laundering business. The Jerky Boys discover that their long-loved hometown bar will be torn down unless they stop it.

Plot

Johnny and Kamal are taken into police custody and interrogated by two NYPD cops. They tell the cops about their lives. Johnny and Kamal were kids who made prank calls to Brett Weir's mother and gets him in trouble. The mother spanks Brett when the boys lied to her about her son stealing, cursing, and spitting. Mrs. B beats the boys for prank calling them. 20 years later, Mrs. B demands Johnny and Kamal to get a job, but the two keep on causing trouble and get fired from every job they had, including construction working and Burger Bob. Later, Brett Weir tells them that he has connections with the mob.

Characters

The main characters are:

• Johnny — (Himself) one of the two prank callers.
• Kamal — (Himself) one of the two prank callers.
• Ernie Lazarro — (Alan Arkin) a powerful mob boss who the prank callers get tangled up with.
• Tony Scarboni — (Vincent Pastore) Lazarro's right hand man.
• Geno — (Brian Tarantina) Scarboni's bumbling underling.
• Sonny — (Peter Appel) Scarboni's bumbling underling.
• Robert Worzic — (Brad Sullivan) a detective who is trying to bring a fictional "Frank Rizzo" down
• Brett Weir — (James Lorinz) Johnny's weaselly mob-connected neighbor. A victim to the Jerky Boys.
• Mrs. B — (Suzanne Shepherd) Johnny's long-suffering mother.
• Uncle Freddy - (William Hickey) Johnny's Neighbor, seemingly a harmless old kook but really an old-time mob boss
• Mickey — (Alan North) Owns the bar Johnny B. and Kamal frequent.
• Construction Foreman — (Joe Lisi) a construction worker, who fires Johnny and Kamal.
• Burger Bob Customer — (Ron Ostrow) a customer ordering lunch at Burger Bob's drive through.
• Band Manager — (Ozzy Osbourne) band manager for Helmet.
• Henry Bogdan — (Himself) one of the four members of Helmet.
• Rob Echeverria — (Himself) one of the four members of Helmet.
• Page Hamilton — (Himself) one of the four members of Helmet.
• John Stanier — (Himself) one of the four members of Helmet.

Production and delay of release

After the 1993 release of the first Jerky Boys album, Johnny B., Kamal, along with James Melkonian and Rich Wilkes, commenced writing a screenplay for a proposed Jerky Boys film for producers Joe Roth and Roger Birnbaum's production company Caravan Pictures. The film was shot between April and June 1994 in New York City, under the direction of James Melkonian. The project's distributor, Buena Vista, originally planned to release the film in 1994 but the release was delayed until after the release of the second Jerky Boys album. The film was released theatrically on February 3, 1995 by Buena Vista through its Touchstone Pictures label. The copyright date of this movie is 1994 and the same date appears on the disc and back cover of the soundtrack.

Releases

The Jerky Boys was initially released by Touchstone Pictures on VHS on March 5, 1996. As VHS has been obsolete, it is currently out of print, although it can be found used in some retail stores.

Although The Jerky Boys has never been released on DVD properly in the United States and Canada, the first (and only) release was by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on the film's 9th anniversary in March 2004 in Europe and the United Kingdom. This DVD does not play on North American DVD players or those from most other countries outside of Europe. To play the DVD (outside of Europe), you need need a "multi-region" or "region-free" PAL compatible DVD player or computer.

As of 2010, Touchstone has not publicly disclosed any plans to release The Jerky Boys: The Movie on DVD or Blu-ray.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

The film was featured with mostly negative reviews, receiving only a 10% from Rotten Tomatoes. It has become a big part of the Jerky Boys career, becoming somewhat of a cult following for Jerky Boys fans.

External links

• The Jerky Boys at the Internet Movie Database
• The Jerky Boys at AllRovi
• The Jerky Boys at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Jerky Boys at Box Office Mojo