Good stuff!

I need a laugh from time to time... Ernest, is good at that.

This was the Jim Varny I expected. Slap stick comedy all the way but with a good story line. The family will enjoy this with a bowl of Popcorn.

i never knew it until a few years after he died...i had somewhat grown up with ernest movies. not a complete barrage, but a few viewings of camp, scared stupid, army, and this one every now and then..he was sort of the guy i took for granted(like looney tunes when they were on non stop in the late 90's)...but as you would know, you never know how good anything is until it is gone...over half a century since jim varney has died, and i find myself rediscovering these films. shame that ernest is fading into 90's cheesy nostalgia material. ripped on by all the critics, and released on rather poor excuses of dvds(still better than none)..ernest is becoming lost.

that being said, jim varney had a great sense of humor..enough so to play other characters within the same film and come off completely different. im not going to explain the movie...besides that its full of laughs.

as for this dvd...oh man..it ranks as the worst type of dvd...nothing extra..hence 4 stars...i say release all the ernest movies in a box set along with "hey vern its ernest tv show" and ernest the pirate in its fullest complete form....oh well, itll probably never happen since ernest is fading into underappreciated oblivion. stupid critics. if you dont like the type of movie, dont watch/rate it.

IN A NUTSHELL: CREATED FOR PRE-ADOLESCENT KIDS THIS IS CLEAN COMEDY WITH PATHOS!

I saw this film when it was first released in 1990 and it was my first exposure to the world of 'Ernest'. Although I was already a mature adult, I found this film most compelling from the very first scene. To my surprise, the script is surprisingly detailed and the comedy came without profanity, overt violence or sex. In short, this is a film I could watch with my young children [at the time] or elderly mother without feeling uncomfortable about what was being shown and said on the screen.

WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT: WHAT IS ANY 'ERNEST' FILM ABOUT?

Ernest somehow manages to turn jury duty into a dead-end -- literally. Somehow he is spirited away during the trial and exchanged for a death-row dead-ringer of himself. Ernest must somehow survive an execution and save his friends on the outside from his evil look-alike, Mr. Felix Nash, who's criminal plans include the liquidation of all of Ernest's friends. Jim Varney plays both parts with the aplomb that only Ernest could carry off.


Jim Varney - Mr. Nash / Ernest P. Worrell
Gailard Sartain - Chuck
Bill Byrge - Bobby
Barbara Bush - Charlotte Sparrow
Barry Scott - Rubin Bartlett
Randall "Tex" Cobb - Lyle
Dan Leegant - Oscar Pendlesmythe
Charles Napier - Warden
Jim Conrad - Eddie
Jackie Welch - Judge

ABOUT THE DVD:

Frankly, this DVD is in full-frame and does not play as well as I would have expected. Also, there are NO FEATURES whatsoever, unless you consider close-captioning a Special Feature. That is a real shame because like most of Jim Varney's fans I am anxious to discover whatever I can about the world of 'Ernest' and his films.

This is probably my favorite of the Ernest movies. Man, Jim Varney was a great performer. I was sorry to hear he passed away a few years ago.

In this Ernest movie, Ernest works in a bank as a janitor and is terrible at his job. He hopes to work his way up to being a bank clerk, but there's little chance of that. He gets electrocuted while fiddling around with his floor waxer and it messes his whole body up, because every now and then throughout the film he becomes magnetized and metal objects begin chasing him around.

He has a crush on his coworker at the bank and finally gets a date with her. On the date, he wears the same old vest and brown cap he always wears.

A few days later, he gets a jury duty summons, and is actually delighted that "out of hundreds and thousands of people they could have picked, they chose me." After the trial starts, he's chewing on a pen as he listens to the case, and the pen busts in his mouth, in what has to be my favorite scene in the entire movie.

The defendant in the case notices that Ernest looks exactly like a fellow inmate of his, a convicted killer and bankrobber known as Mr. Nash. The defendant arranges for the jury to have a look at the jail where his alleged crime took place and a switch is made between Mr. Nash and Ernest. With Mr. Nash on the jury, the defendant is found innocent, and Mr. Nash tastes freedom as everyone thinks that this psychotic hardcore killer is plain old kind-hearted Ernest now.

Poor dumb Ernest is in jail for quite some time before he figures out what has happened. He figures he's just been "sequestered" as a juror. Ernest then finds out from other prisoners that he was switched with Mr. Nash, and unless Ernest acts like Mr. Nash to avoid suspicion, the real Mr. Nash who is as free as a bluebird will do bodily harm to his friends.

When Mr. Nash is scheduled to be executed, the warden takes Ernest to the electric chair, but, because he was electrocuted earlier in the movie, he doesn't die. Instead he becomes "Ernest P. Warrel - Electroman." He escapes from prison and goes to check on his buddies. He finds Mr. Nash robbing his bank and tries to save the day. He's electrocuted again by the bank's security system, and starts floating in the air. Talk about a really weird scene. Anyhow, Ernest uses his superpowers to stop Nash, and all is well once again.

One thing I noticed is that unlike other Ernest movies, this one doesn't have any kids in it. I don't know if you could call it an adult movie, but adults can sure get some enjoyment out of this. I know kids enjoy it too, and even though there are implications of violence during certain scenes of the film, it's a very clean movie, as all of Ernest's movies are. Perhaps this is the only family film you can find with jail as the setting.

Great movie for Ernest fans, and even people who don't like his clumsy character will probably enjoy this one.