When Steve Martin spoke about the enduring appeal of his first feature film, "The Jerk," he said he and the writers (Carl Reiner, Carl Gottlieb, and Michael Elias) had one goal in mind: a joke for every page of the script.
Judging by the incredibly high laughs-per-minute ratio in this 1979 classic comedy, Martin succeeded. He also gave us early peeks into what would make him such a unique comedian and a key fixture in the three-headed giant that is “Only Murders in the Building” — punching out tightly written one-liners, then amplifying them with wildly BIG slapstick movements when the scenes call for it. Which they often do in "The Jerk," a classic comedy that is sadly leaving Netflix on September 1.
