“Impractical Jokers: The Movie” Movie Review

    Reality television has come a long way over the years so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a show like “Impractical Jokers” has managed to thrive based on the challenges four friends put each other through.  The show is humorous if you like crude comedy and there is certainly a market for that.  When I found out that there was going to be a movie based on the show, I knew I was going to have to check it out.  Since there hasn’t been a huge slew of movies hitting theaters, my girlfriend and I decided to check this film out in the theaters.

    The film breaks a bit from the format of the show by having a story thread that goes on through the film.  Years ago while the gang was still in high school, the boys snuck into a Paula Abdul concert disguised as security guards.  Sal, Q, and Joe dare Murr to get Paula’s phone number and when he proves successful, the group vows to complete every dare or challenge given to them by the other friends or face a punishment (the principal behind the tv show).  Years later, the group reconnect with Paula and she invites them to a party she is having.  The catch is, she only gives them three passes.  The four friends decide that challenges would be the fairest way to decide who gets left behind.

    The movie is inspired by the truTV hit show and it left me laughing out loud more than a few times.  The four friends, Sal Vulcano, Joseph Gatto, James Murray and Brian Quinn all have amazing chemistry together and it was fun getting to see them act a little.  Fans of the show will be pleased to hear there are even call backs to previous episodes with my favorite being a challenge involving Jaden Smith.  Other critics haven’t been so kind with this film, but it left me laughing quite a few times so I feel like it succeeded in it’s goal as a comedy.

    With all that being said, I feel like fans of the show might be put off a bit by it’s more traditional approach to storytelling.  I think it’s fair to compare “Impractical Jokers” to “Jackass” a bit and I think that the films “Jackass” ended up spawning did a better job pleasing their fans.  I understand the group may have felt like just stringing some challenges together might have felt like they were ripping off their fans, but all they would have needed to do is create challenges that were on a bigger scale.

    I would recommend this film overall but I would say that diehard fans of the show might be a little underwhelmed by the end product.  It’s a funny movie, I just would have personally loved to see more challenges and crazier ones at that.

Grade: B-