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Jerkass/Film: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
* Every single character [[Kurtwood Smith]] has played in a film.
** Except the Federation President in [[Star Trek VI:
* Christopher McDonald is an actor who also has made playing a Jerkass an art form. Oddly enough, his first role in the movie ''Breakin''' has him as a genuinely nice guy, making it a retroactive case of [[Playing Against Type]].
* Almost every character Dabney Coleman ever played.
* Henry from ''[[Ever After (
* Lord Farquaad in the first ''[[Shrek]]'' movie and Lancelot as well as his friends in the third.
* Gaston from Disney's ''[[Beauty and
** The Villagers were also heavily implied to be just as bad.
** The Beast himself was one, too before [[Jerk
* Sid Phillips and Mr. Potato Head in the first ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'', Al and Stinky Pete in the second, and Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear (aka Lotso) in the third.
** Woody initially also had his moments with Buzz in the first movie.
* Biff Tannen, as well as [[In the Blood|his whole family line]] from the ''[[Back to The Future]]'' trilogy.
* Buzz McCallister, along with Harry and Uncle Frank from the first two ''[[Home Alone]]'' movies. Also, the hotel Concierge in the second film.
* Practically every character D-FENS runs into in [[Falling Down]]: the convenience store owner, the two knife-wielding street thugs, the Nazi, the employees at the fast food restaurant, the snooty golfers, the homeless guy, the road crew worker, et al. - all, of course, to "justify" D-FENS's [[Disproportionate Retribution]] toward them as he slowly turns into a psychopath. (Actually, D-FENS himself is one by the movie's climax, at least until his [[Heel Realization]].)
* Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso in the first ''[[Casper (
* The bullies in ''[[Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown]]'', with Lucy and Peppermint Patty to a lesser extent than usual.
* A good example of comic-relief gone awry would be L.J. from ''[[Resident Evil]]: Apocalypse''. His obnoxious, stereotypical and totally inappropriate "street flava" nearly makes him a modern day [[Ethnic Scrappy]], and left many viewers wondering why the other characters didn't give the audience a break and [[Take That, Scrappy!|just shoot him in the face]].
** In the follow-up movie {{spoiler|he is killed off, but by then he'd dropped the [[Modern Minstrelsy]] crap and became somewhat sympathetic}}.
* Andy from ''[[Wet Hot American Summer]]'' lets multiple six-year-olds drown, cheats on his girlfriend (who might be a [[Alpha Bitch]] if she weren't so nice), and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|refuses to clean up his breakfast.]] It's never really made clear whether the rest of the counselors, save for Coop and Katie, are aware of his jerkass tendencies, or just see him as a [[Handsome Lech]]. Either way, he's bad news with a beautiful face and incredible body.
* Being the villain is a given, but The Kurgan from the first ''[[
* In the same mold, Steve from the 2004 version of ''[[Dawn of the Dead (2004
** Not to mention he {{spoiler|causes the break in of the mall in the first place, by leaving his post and not opening the security door when the protagonists are trying to get back in after a rescue of Sarah. He does it out of spite, and even greets them with a grin and a "Hey, guys, where were you?!"}}
* The protagonist of ''[[
* [[Hair
** And based on a real person.
** Tommy's friends at least seem to tolerate him because he directs his insanity toward other people and never attacks them (in the famous "Funny Guy" scene, Henry calls him out on this). His superiors in the mafia however, {{spoiler|refuse to put up with his insanity any longer and shoot him in the back of the head when they learn that he murdered a made man}}.
** The other gangsters as well as Henry Hill and Jimmy Conway.
* Daniel Plainview in the film ''[[There Will Be Blood]]'' takes this trope to disturbingly unhinged levels, especially at the end of the film.
* Sheridan Whiteside of ''The Man Who Came To Dinner'' straddles the line between [[Jerkass]] and [[Villain
** People need to stop saying someone straddles the line between two tropes there is no line between.
* [[Will Smith]]'s new movie ''[[Hancock]]'' is about a [[Jerkass]] who's a subversion of the classic [[Flying Brick]] - all of the powers, none of the [[The Cape (trope)|Cape-ness]]. He [[Character Development|realizes (with the urging of a PR Agent whom he saves) that doesn't make for a popular hero and try to change it]]. He is quite sensitive about his Jerkassed nature and [[Berserk Button|does not take kindly to being called an Asshole by anybody, particularly criminals]].
* There's usually at least one of these in a horror movie. David and Ed in ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]'' stand out, though.
* Detective James Carter (played by Chris Tucker) is a huge [[Jerkass]] at the start of ''[[Rush Hour]]'' and he knows it. Of course, since he's the hero he's also the [[Jerk
** He gets worse in the second and third movie, becoming increasingly racist and even attempts to use his police status to molest a couple of girls. [[Refuge in Audacity|For humor, of course.]]
* Apollo Creed in ''[[Rocky (
** More like {{spoiler|cockiness equals death}}. He and Rocky had been fast friends for a while by the time that happened.
* Pick a horror movie centred around a group of four to seven friends. One of them is usually the [[Jerkass]]. Sometimes they get [[Redemption Equals Death]], sometimes not, but they die.
** A particularly egregious example is Trent from the ''Friday the 13th'' remake, who pretty much starts his [[Jerkass]] resume by being a complete dick to Clay, whose sister was missing and he was searching for her. The rest of his time is spent bitching about his drunken friends ruining his cabin, even bitching about a chair broken when one friend fell over it after burned his lips while doing a flaming shot. Add on his 80s hair, and his death couldn't come soon enough.
*** Don't forget cheating on his girlfriend with the whore that just happened to come along. He was the most unredeemable character I've seen in a recent horror film.
*** Just after his girlfriend comes back with Clay, screaming that there's a maniac trying to kill them, Trent's first reaction is to accuse her of cheating on him with a random stranger...literally minutes after he had just finished doing the same thing! AAAGGGH!
* Kraven from the ''[[Underworld (
* The extreme sports punks who constantly torment the main characters in ''Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle'' fit this trope.
** Although they are later revealed to be big softies due to {{spoiler|their musical tastes.}}
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** It's not a remake, it's the new adaptation of the book.
** Out of place? He watched that Charlie was the only non-jerkass child of the group, and he felt sympathy for him when he knew he was poor and hadn't ate.
* In ''[[Snakes
* ''[[American Pie]]'''s Steve Stifler. This was an important plot point in the 4th movie (''[[American Pie]] Presents: Band Camp'') when his younger brother Matt, who for most of the movie is trying to emulate Steve, changes his ways when he finds out that EVERYONE hated his brother. Because he was a [[Jerkass]].
** And in another movie even ''Steve'' admits he's a [[Jerkass]] and is glad that one of his relatives, the protagonist of that movie, isn't like him.
* The antagonists of the ''[[
* Randal from ''[[Clerks]]''.
** Banky from [[Chasing Amy]], Brodie from [[Mallrats]], and, of course, Jay of [[Those Two Guys|Jay And Silent Bob.]] [[Kevin Smith]] enjoys following the [[The Eighties|1980's tradition]] of [[Sensitive Guy and Manly Man|giving the relatively sensitive, girl-friendly male lead]] a [[Straw Misogynist]] [[The Lancer|best friend / sidekick]].
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** Ironically enough, their rivalry also winds up with the other lead's wife hanging herself and his {{spoiler|secret twin's}} girlfriend leaving him.
* All characters in ''The Family Stone'' at at least one point. Sometimes it's [[Rule of Funny|funny]], sometimes it [[Moral Event Horizon|goes really way too far]].
* The protagonist of ''[[Bad Santa (
* DEA Agent Duncan Malloy(Colm Meaney) in ''[[Con Air]]''.
* [[Pocahontas|Meeko the raccoon]] is this to anyone with food (which usually happens to be [[Butt Monkey|Percy]]), stealing it from them without any provocation. He even [[Troll|taunts the victim afterwards]]. He <s> does do some good things on occasion</s> ''very rarely'' does some good things, though, making him a Jerk With A Heart of <s>Gold</s> <s>Silver</s> Bronze.
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* Sy Benson in ''[[My Favorite Year]]''.
* Richard Cameron in ''[[Dead Poets Society]]''. Neil's father is this as well: {{spoiler|He [[Driven to Suicide|drives his son to suicide]] and [[Never My Fault|blames Keating for it, not thinking for a second that he had anything to do with it.]] And sadly, [[Karma Houdini|he gets away with firing Keating]]}}.
* The Emperor from ''[[
** Some believe that the Emperor is a subtle metaphor of the current Chinese government. You can't beat him, but he's left thoroughly unhappy after destroying all close to him out of paranoia and spite.
* Preston's father in [[Blank Check]] does come across as a jerkass on one more than once occassion. When his son was nearly run over by a car, he scolds his son about the bike that got run over instead and then proceeds to ground him.
** To say nothing of the fact he gives the boy's room to his equally [[Jerkass]] older brothers, lets them steal his life savings and admonishes him, at eight years old, for not starting a 'business' like said older brothers.
* Phil in ''[[The Hangover]]'' seems to count -- he's abrasive in a very frat-boy sort of way and doesn't appear to have any qualms about cheating on his wife, although {{spoiler|he gets better by the end, kind of.}} Extra points because he's a handsome elementary school teacher and they are not typically jerkasses in film.
** He immediately subverts expectations of the kindly male teacher by pocketing the money the kids have handed in with permission forms of some sort to take to Vegas with the other main characters!
** For all his talk, Phil's scenes at the end with his wife and son pretty much negate his earlier impression of hating his life. Although he got pretty messed up during the trip, he stated clearly that he wasn't willing to jeopardize his family.
* The protagonist of ''[[Bruce Almighty]]'' is obnoxious, selfish and whiny whom it takes divine intervention to straighten up. In the sequel they took it [[Up to Eleven]] by making God(!) a jerkass. Instead of a benevolent being who basically "gives a guy a bar of soap and some rope to see if he takes a bath and goes mountain-climbing" we have an arrogant asshole who brutally enforces himself upon an innocent person and humiliates him, doesn't give a damn about his wishes and sprouts lines like "The World Flood story was a love story". [[The
* Roberto Volare from ''[[Brain Donors]]'' has an impressively inflated ego due to his status in the ballet world, and is unrestrained about using it to woo his partner Lisa away from her beau Alan.
* Andy Wainwright and Andy Cartwright from ''[[Hot Fuzz]]''.
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* Anybody in ''[[Loser]]'' that's not Jason Biggs or Mena Suvari. Biggs' roommates and the professor played by Greg Kinnear who sleeps with Suvari's character are horrible human beings.
* Sgt. J.J. Sefton from ''[[Stalag 17]]''. With the exceptions of Cookie and Joey, he sees everyone in the compound as simply an opportunity to get resources to trade for goods (a result after getting his stuff stolen during his first week at the prison). This comes to bite him in the ass in the beginning of the story; when he barters with the Nazi guards using the cigarettes he won from a bet involving a botched escape attempt, he is suspected of being an agent planted by the Germans.
* Moe from [[The Three Stooges]]. ''And then some''.
** In ''Pop Goes The Easel'', his [[Jerkass]] attitude gets cranked [[Up to Eleven]] when, following a clay fight, Moe demands to know who started it, someone says "YOU did!", Moe responds by angrily yelling "Oh YEAH?!", and then promptly spins around with his hand extended, [[Hair
* Jason in ''[[Mystery Team]]'' is on the road to becoming this before Kelly sets him straight.
* Chuck Tatum, (played by Kirk Douglas) in the movie "Ace in the Hole". A star reporter who has fallen from his pedestal, Chuck crawls through a dangerous tunnel to present a friendly face and reassuring words to a man trapped in a collapsed mine. {{spoiler|He then arranges to have the man stuck in there for a whole week, sleeps with his wife, and uses the whole situation to advance his career}}
* Several of Jack Nicholson's characters are jerkass, like the misogynist Melvin Udall in [[As Good
* Richard Vernon from ''[[The Breakfast Club]]''. He starts hinting at [[Jerkass Woobie]] status as the day wears on, particularly during his conversation with Carl Reed.
** John Bender also easily qualifies, but down deep, he's a [[Jerk
** Andy Clark is a [[Jerk Jock]] who feels like he has to be an asshole and a bully to the weaker students because his father expects that behavior out of him. When he plays a humiliating and painful prank on another kid, he feels terrible about it afterward, but his dad is only upset that he got caught.
* ''[[The Room]]'': Lisa, her mother, Johnny and Mark qualify.
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* Upson Pratt in ''[[Creepshow]]'''s ''They're Creeping Up on You!''
* Pretty much everyone in the movie [[Gamer]].
* The Wreckers of ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon]].'' As one government official states, "We don't let them out much because they're assholes." The Wreckers are Autobot scientists who work at the Kennedy Space Center, monitoring the ''Xantium'', the Autobot starship that brought the second wave of Autobots to Earth (Sideswipe and co.). They also work alongside humans (including {{spoiler|former NEST soldier Epps}}), but their verbal abuse is reported to reduce many NASA employees to tears. And that doesn't even cover their attitude toward Decepticons...
* Jet Li in "Jet Li's Fearless" until he makes a [[Tragic Mistake]], undergoes a [[Redemption Quest]] and then becomes the savior of his country (trope?)
* Pony Sugrue in ''[[Darby O
* Lloyd from ''[[Dumb and Dumber]]''. Harry, in addition to being somewhat smarter, is a [[Nice Guy]] in his own bumbling way, whereas Lloyd is often sadistic and mean-spirited, and not always obliviously so.
* In the ''[[
* Practically just about every named character in the remake of [[Scarface]]: Elvira, Frank, Omar, Mel, Hector The Toad, Sosa, et. al. Even Manny, Gina and Chi Chi to a lesser extent, were nearly close to falling into this territory. (Actually, Tony himself, who is an [[Villain Protagonist|amoral criminal]], also counts as one when he is controlling towards his sister, until his [[Heel Realization]] when {{spoiler|he killed Manny in a fit of anger.}})
* Pretty much the main cast themselves of [[Glengarry Glen Ross]].
* ALL of the soldiers themselves from start to finish in [[
* The [[Villain Protagonist|amoral thieves]] themselves in [[Reservoir Dogs]]. And to a lesser extent, the cops too. However, Mr. Pink and Nice Guy Eddie fits the cake.
* Just about every named character in [[Pulp Fiction]]. Vincent, Jules, Ringo, Yolanda, Lance, Jody, Marsellus, Mia and etc. Particularly because they all [[Cluster F
* The Dude and Walter Sobchak in [[The Big Lebowski]]. But the nihilists definitely counts. And everyone else to a lesser extent, Jesus Quintana and millionaire Big Lebowski in particular.
* Just about everyone in [[Casino]], especially Nicky Santoro and Ginger Mckenna. And to a lesser extent, Sam Rothstein.
* Practically every cop and gangster character in [[The Departed]]: Billy, Sullivan, Costello, Dignam, Mr. French, Ellerby, and etc. And to a lesser extent, Queenan, Brown and Madolyn came close to this territory too.
* Let's face it, [[Godzilla]] can be a serious asshole if he wants to. One highlight is ''Ghidorah, the Three Headed Dragon'' where he seems to auidibly ''laughs'' at Rodan when Rodan gets attacked by Mothra. According to Mothra and her fairies, who can understand the kaiju, he is quite foul-mouthed as well.
* In [[
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