Dirty Grandpa - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

"Tell me how things were better under Eisenhower!"

You should probably take a moment to read our coverage for the previous Blu-ray release of Dirty Grandpa HERE. 

My thoughts about the film aren't any better. In fact, I find that review's 2/5 a bit generous. After giving Van Wilder a recent spin, I think it's pretty safe to say that I've personally outgrown gross-out comedies like Dirty Grandpa. They're just lazy. Not that some of the best efforts of the Farrelly Brothers were testimonials to quality screenwriting, but there was still a sense of class and sophistication to them. They had timing and place. There was a build up and almost a measure of suspense to the gag because you had to sit there and wonder how far the joke was going to go. By comparison, There's Something About Mary is subtle and understated compared to Dirty Grandpa. The tone of this movie is set pretty early with the boorish antics of  Adam Pally's Cousin Nick getting high at a funeral and then quickly follows up with Zac Efron walking in on Robert De Niro going "number three."

I'll admit that Dirty Grandpa isn't completely void of humor, I did laugh a couple times - especially when De Niro and Aubrey Plaza's Lenore start dirty talking trying to get him into having sex by talking about Eisenhower. That was funny stuff. However - the dialog surrounding that one crystal gem of a joke is obnoxious and frankly just ill-timed and gross. That's pretty much the theme of the movie. For every one great laugh, there are about a dozen motor-mouthed improv jokes that are painfully unfunny making you wonder how they even made it into the final edit. 

Dirty Grandpa is one of those films that flew through my radar a time or two where I gave it a second of my time but quickly changed the channel because I didn't care to see it. I didn't have to watch it. Now that I've been compelled to sit through it, I can see why people didn't like it and I can see why some get a kick out of it. Humor is subjective. I'm just not in the camp that likes this movie. It's not even a genre thing either. I appreciate a well-timed bit of crude humor so long as there's a point to the joke. Dirty Grandpa felt pointless and humorless. Between the R-Rated Theatrical cut on the 4K Ultra HD disc and the Unrated on the SDR Blu-ray, I tip my hat to the R-Rated theatrical if only because it's 7-minutes shorter. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Dirty Grandpa slips onto 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate in a two-disc 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray + Blu-ray + Digital set. Pressed onto a BD-66 disc, the discs are housed in an eco-friendly two-disc case with identical slipcover artwork. The 4k Ultra HD Blu-ray only contains the theatrical R-Rated cut of the film with the Unrated Edition occupying the standard SDR Blu-ray disc. The 4K Disc loads to an animated main menu with traditional navigation options.

Oddly enough, Lionsgate's Blu-ray release of Dirty Grandpa fell short in the video quality department when it was released in 2016. I hate to say it but with an upscaled 2160p 2.40:1 Dolby Vision pass - things only nominally improve. In side-by-side comparisons, people will notice a slight uptick in clarity and detail (for better or worse depending on the scene). Where the original Blu-ray could look pretty soft and out of focus, wide shots and close-ups get a little extra punch - but not much. Fine facial features, hairs, beards and so forth don't really come into sharp focus as they can in other recent releases.  

Where this 4K Ultra HD release does come to life is in the color department. With Dolby Vision employed, there is a much stronger and more life-like saturation of primaries and flesh tones. I thought the Blu-ray could look a bit too yellow at times and now there's an appreciable color gradience. Black levels aren't quite ideal, again the previous SDR Blu-ray looked pretty hazy and soft, but this 4K UHD release is a bit stronger allowing for some depth to the image. Contrast is also a bit more under control with crisper whites. I won't dare come close to saying this release is demo-worthy material, but I won't deny there is an improvement from one release over the other. Those CGI crowd scenes - and where it was employed to show various bits and pieces of the human body - still look really bad, and possibly made worse by HDR. That said, this doesn't look like a movie that was shot and released within the last 2 years. Dirty Grandpa looks like an older early 2000s film that never got a remaster before being popped onto the Blu-ray and 4K UHD market. 

In addition to a 4K facelift, Dirty Grandpa arrives with a new Dolby Atmos mix that more or less simply goes through the motions. Where the original DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix was par for the course for this sort of comedy, Dirty Grandpa only enjoys a little extra spacing around the elements. Vertical spacing is pretty limited with the only notable activity during the large Florida crowd scenes and a few of the busier parts of the film. As much of what goes on takes place only in small rooms with only a handful of actors (if even that many) that extra Atmos oomph one would hope for largely falls by the wayside. I'll give it points for clarity, dialog exchanges are clean and clear, and once the film moves to a more active setting, there is some solid surround work at play. Like the video transfer, don't expect demo material here. 

Lionsgate continues their trend of porting over bonus features onto their 4K UHD discs with Dirty Grandpa. Nearly every single bonus feature that was on the Blu-ray is also on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc. The exception being the Audio Commentary as that was unique to the Unrated Version of the film, it has not been included on the R-Rated 4K disc. For a breakdown of these bonus features, check out our previous review HERE. 

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

The Filthy Truth - The Making of Dirty Grandpa

Lessons in Seduction

I Got Nothin' To Hide: A Look At Daytona's Most Vibrant Drug Dealer

Daytona Heat

Gag Reel

Only On Blu-ray

"Filthy Filmmakers Who Have No Shame" Audio Commentary 

I may not have liked what Dirty Grandpa had to offer, but I know this movie has its fans. I am just not one of them. If you're a fan of crass gross-out humor featuring legendary actors in need of paychecks, this one is for you. Lionsgate ushers Dirty Grandpa onto 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with only marginal improvements to the film's overall video and audio quality. The film does look better, but only slightly and the film's nature doesn't give the Atmos mix the workout one would expect from a high-end audio format. If you were a fan who missed the previous release and are looking for something to get on 4K this is for you. If you haven't seen the film in the couple years since it hit theaters, you can go on missing it because there isn't a whole lot here of value. This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray of Dirty Grandpa is For The Fans.