Grandma’s Boy: Joel David Moore Reflects on the Surprising Legacy of Stoner Comedy

During a recent interview with ComingSoon, Avatar star Joel David Moore reflected on the legacy of Grandma’s Boy, the 2006 comedy movie that he starred in with Nick Swardson and Linda Cardellini.

“Nick Swardson is a legend. He is brilliant. He’s one of my favorite guys that I’ve met in Los Angeles,” Moore said of his co-star. “He created something, I think, that could stand the test of time just because it’s a fun, iconic classic comedy. We don’t even really make comedies like that anymore. Goofball or whatever you would call Grandma’s Boy, whatever that kind of hybrid comedy is. You don’t see a lot of them.”

Moore went on to describe how the comedy initially bombed in theaters, only to be saved by its impressive home media sales.

“It failed in the theater. It made maybe $2.5 million in the theater, went out on 2,500 screens or something — massive failure,” the actor explained. “And then it killed it on DVD. It was like the perfect momentum, coming from a failed theatrical release into everybody just wanting to see this weird movie. I think it hit the college campuses in a really big way. But because of that, on a daily basis, I hear from people about Grandma’s Boy, this movie that we never knew was going to have this kind of life.”

Finally, Moore said that he still has fans approach him in public about the movie 17 years later.

“So I think it’s counted as one of our cult classics in the comedy space. We’re all proud of it. It’s fun, you know? Nick Goossen did an incredible job directing it, he’s another good friend of mine,” Moore stated. “It gives us giggles that almost 17 years later, I’ll be walking around at a mall and somebody will come up and talk to me about Grandma’s Boy. That’s crazy.”

Released in 2006, Grandma’s Boy is a comedy that stars Allen Covert, Peter Dante, Nick Swardson, Linda Cardellini, Jonah Hill, and Joel David Moore. Game development company Terminal Reality took part in the film’s production, as the story followed a game tester and heavily featured video games.