Perfect cast and a good story

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Ernest Goes to Jail (1990): Dir: John R. Cherry III / Cast: Jim Varney, Gailard Sartain, Barbara Bush, Randall "Tex" Cobb, Bill Byrge: Average comedy that treats its prison theme with contempt. The next film should be called Ernest Goes to Therapy, which he should seek if he finds the slightest joy in jury duty. Ernest is a janitor at a bank where a jury duty opportunity has him knocked unconscious and replaced by a criminal look-alike who happens to be on death row. Formula follows his many escape attempts as well as the criminal's inability to fill his shoes. In Escape From Alcatrez Clint Eastwood doesn't have quite as much fun in the pen. The ending is a complete free-for-all where all logic goes out the window. Director John R. Cherry's third Ernest film with fine special effects but not quite up to Ernest Saves Christmas. Jim Varney should be given credit for playing off two very different roles successfully. Gailard Sartain steals moments as a buffoon security guard whose security ideas are a constant bust, and Bill Byrge plays his silence yet agreeable sidekick. Barbara Bush plays the standard damsel whom Ernest is smitten by. Randall "Tex" Cobb plays a prison inmate who is to teach Ernest how to be his look-a-like while becoming fond of his good natured qualities. While not the worst of its kind, its reality of prison is treated like fun fair instead of the dread it is. Score: 3 ½ / 10

Some may say that people will get tired of Ernest. It's hard to believe. He's been gone for 11 years and there's still no sign of people forgetting Ernest. If people were tired of him much earlier on, why, I ask you, did Varney make 4,000 commercials? Yes, 4,000. I didn't add an extra 0 here. That's unheard of with any one else. Varney was the only one to reach cult status with 30 second ads. I don't even like commercials and I found his thoroughly entertaining. I loved them so much,I bought them on DVD. With that said, "Ernest Goes to Jail" is hilarious. And, we get to see him play bad-guy, Mr. Felix Nash-quite a difference from Ernest's goofball slap stick. Nash is far from Ernest, being organized, clever and mean. In this installment from the Ernest line, Varney shows off his God given rare talents. Looking in the mirror in jail, he tries to come off as Nash by using different voices and facial contortions. It never fails to make me laugh. The ink pen scene is classic. It's so funny watching him try to clean off the ink only to smear it worse all over his face. Plus, he gets electrocuted 4 times in this movie. "Hey,Vern! No one gets electrocuted like Varney, KnoWhutImean?" The beginning of the movie has Ernest trying to start the floor polisher only to have it take on a mind of its own by dragging Ernest all over the floor and up the wall. Ernest's screams are just adorable. Especially 4 minutes and 34 seconds into the movie. Any other jail movie would be loaded with violence and bad language and the fact is, I wouldn't care to watch them. This is probably the only jail movie that was free of vulgarity and was still a treat to watch. Varney made his Ernest movies kid friendly-for all ages to enjoy. C'mon, we all know that Ernest was Jim's true calling because mostly everyone refers to him as Ernest. And no one will ever be able to replace him. I know that Vern missed Ernest. He even left a note for Ernest at www.vernssuicidenote.blogspot.com. I've read it. It's quite humorous as well. When I first saw "Ernest Goes to Jail" at 14 when it first came out, I wanted a house like Ernest's, right down to that cool washer and dryer. The 'electric toothbrushes' would be pretty nice to have, too. Brush all your teeth at the same time in half the time. We all know that Jim paved the way for people like Jim Carrey and Larry the Cable Guy, but Varney kept it clean. Though, Jim Varney is still my number 1. Of course, with any Ernest movie, it will receive the highest rating possible.

This "Ernest film" is a typically silly, stupid-at-times one but still wholesome in its humor and sometimes very funny.The best moments in here, at least the ones that made me laugh hardest, were in the bank with Jim Varney ("Ernest") and a runaway vacuum cleaner. Yes, there is a lot of juvenile humor in here, but the totally-innocent lightweight humor is fun.Varney also does some imitations in here, and he's quite good at it. He's done this in several of his movies and it is always entertaining.For those wondering about their young kids watching this, there is absolutely no offensive language in this movie, too. Now that's a rarity for a 1990 film.

This is an excellent movie. There were several parts to the movie I liked. This movie is very funny! Visit the Ernest fun club web site at www.ernestfunclub.com There are several movies such as the following: Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Saves Christmas, Ernest Goes to Jail, Ernest in the Army, Ernest Goes to School, Ernest Rides Again Slam Dunk Ernest etc. I highly recommend these for family movies. All star Jim Varney again try visiting www.ernestfunclub.com Which is the best Ernest movie? In my opinion there are actually 2 Ernest Goes to Camp and Ernest Goes to Jail. So if you have never seen Ernest P. Worrell its time to go and see him. You will find him quite satisfactory "no what I mean"?