Nine years ago, writer/director Jason Krawczyk brought the world the horror comedy He Never Died, which introduced viewers to a badass immortal character named Jack (played by Henry Rollins), who had been around for thousands of years. This character had franchise potential that Krawczyk and Rollins were well aware of; they were planning to continue his story through a feature sequel and an eight episode mini-series. But for some reason, they were never able to get a follow-up off the ground, and Krawczyk’s sequel script ended up being rewritten into a film called She Never Died, which focused on a different character and wasn’t directed by Krawczyk. According to online trivia, the action comedy thriller Don’t Mess with Grandma (which Krawczyk wrote and directed under his preferred title of Sunset Superman) is a project that grew out of the filmmaker’s frustration over the He Never Died franchise not gaining traction. To deal with that heartbreak, he decided to make a movie that would allow him and other viewers to watch Michael Jai White punch as many people as possible in 80 minutes. And while the finished film doesn’t actually feature a huge number of people getting punched, we do get to watch White throw plenty of punches and toss a specific group of people around.
White’s character is Jasper, or J.T., a guy who spends his days dealing with the elderly as part of his job at Trusted Trays, a meal delivery service. Then he spends his evenings dealing with the most frustrating elderly person in his life: his own grandmother, Granna (Jackie Richardson). This movie catches up with J.T. on a particularly annoying evening when he has stopped by to have dinner with Granna, fix a sink for her, and try to convince her to move from the home she shared with her late husband to an assisted living residence called Shady Acres… a difficult subject to broach. But the most annoying thing about this evening is the fact that Granna’s house has become the target of a group of mask-wearing, blade-and-gun-wielding thieves who have arrived to carry out a home invasion.
These hapless thieves (one of whom happens to be played by Billy Zane, sporting a horrendous mustache) quickly come to suspect that J.T. has a military background as he repeatedly thwarts their attempts to invade and ransack the house – but while this “Terminator dude” knocks the home invaders around with ease, getting some assistance from Granna’s dog, the movie retains a lighthearted tone throughout. This is an action comedy with a fun sense of humor, and J.T. is so confident in his ability to handle the threat that he does his best not to hurt any of the thieves. He doesn’t want to put them down, he just wants to keep them out of the house… and strives to keep their presence a secret from Granna. So every bit of physical violence that occurs happens without Granna witnessing it.
Details on J.T.’s history are revealed as the story goes on, giving an explanation for why he’s so adept at handling home invaders, and we also learn more information about the thieves and why they have shown up to rob Granna’s house. So fear not, questions are answered – and J.T. gets the necessary info on the robbers when he manages to capture one of them and bring him in to maybe play the card game Rummy with him and his Granna. Which was a nice touch on Krawczyk’s part, as I used to play Rummy with my own grandma, and since that scenario made its way into this movie, I assume many others have as well.
Krawczyk was reportedly drawing inspiration from the tone of Big Trouble in Little China when he was making this movie, and while this movie is more down-to-earth and yet goofier than that John Carpenter classic, it does provide a whole lot of entertainment and laughs. The interactions between the bumbling thieves are quite amusing, and White does great work in the lead role, making J.T. a very likeable, fun guy to watch. Apparently White wasn’t even aware of Krawczyk’s Big Trouble in Little China inspiration for the bulk of production, but was drawing inspiration from that movie himself when coming up with his approach to his character, aiming to make J.T. someone who could have fit into Carpenter’s movie. He may not be Jack Burton, but he is as capable in a fight as Wang, and has an iconic moment toward the end (a moment that inspires the song “Sunset Superman” to kick in on the soundtrack) that could boost him onto lists of the great action heroes for many viewers.
Krawczyk may not be fond of the title Don’t Mess with Grandma, but if all goes well, this is a title we’ll be hearing action and comedy fans mention frequently in the future, because the movie is a blast to watch and deserves to be referenced and recommended. Michael Jai White has starred in a lot of action movies over the years, and this is one of his best, with J.T. being one of the best characters he has ever played.
Don’t Mess with Grandma had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest and will soon be making its way to the Tubi streaming service.
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