Ernest Goes to Jail

April. 06,1990      PG
Rating:
5.4
Trailer Synopsis Cast

Bumbling bank janitor Ernest P. Worrell is assigned to jury duty, and soon finds himself in trouble when he is covertly switched with a look-a-like crime boss. Ernest must escape from jail to expose the mix-up.

Jim Varney as  Ernest P. Worrell
Gailard Sartain as  Chuck
Bill Byrge as  Bobby
Barbara Tyson as  Charlotte Sparrow (as Barbara Bush)
Randall "Tex" Cobb as  Lyle
Charles Napier as  Warden
Jackie Welch as  Judge
Jim Conrad as  Eddie
Jeffrey Buckner Ford as  Defense Attorney (as Buck Ford)
Bruce Arntson as  Juror

Similar titles

Two Seconds
Two Seconds
A condemned murderer, in the process of being executed, relives the events that led to his being sentenced to die in the electric chair. Told in flashback, we witness a sleazy dancehall girl (Vivienne Osborne) dupe a high rise riveter (Edward G. Robinson) into marriage so she can live off of him. But when he loses his job and his marbles, she ends up supporting him with money from her side man--and misses no opportunity to rub it in his face that she's now supporting him in his emasculated state. As the animosity grows and things get more and more unbearable, he is eventually driven to desperate measures.
Two Seconds 1932
Sealed Lips
Sealed Lips
There's something very odd about Romano, a notorious gangster serving time in the federal pen. For one thing, Romano doesn't sound much like himself. For another, he always seems to be hiding something. Detective Lee suspects that something's amiss, and he's probably right!
Sealed Lips 1942
Women's Prison
Women's Prison
A crusading psychiatrist battles a sadistic female warden to improve conditions at a women's prison.
Women's Prison 1955
True Story
Max
True Story
A drama centered around the relationship between journalist Michael Finkel and Christian Longo, an FBI Most Wanted List murderer who for years lived outside the U.S. under Finkel's name.
True Story 2015
Logan Lucky
Prime Video
Logan Lucky
Trying to reverse a family curse, brothers Jimmy and Clyde Logan set out to execute an elaborate robbery during the legendary Coca-Cola 600 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Logan Lucky 2017
Isle of Dogs
Disney+
Isle of Dogs
In the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to an island used as a garbage dump. The outcasts must soon embark on an epic journey when a 12-year-old boy arrives on the island to find his beloved pet.
Isle of Dogs 2018
Into Pitch Black
Into Pitch Black
After the events of Pitch Black, a contractor is hired to locate Riddick, dead or alive. He reviews available information on him and the events of Pitch Black. Terrified, he hires a female cyberpunk merc to do the job for him.
Into Pitch Black 2000
The American Mall
The American Mall
The executive producers of High School Musical keep the good times rolling with this upbeat musical comedy set in the one place every American teenager's home away from home - the local shopping mall. Ally (Nina Dobrev) is an optimistic adolescent singer/songwriter whose hard working mother owns the mall music shop frequented by every teen in town. When Ally shares her music with Joey (Rob Mayes), a janitor in the mall who harbors rock star ambitions, she is thrilled to find someone who can truly relate to her songs as well as her heart. Trouble looms on the horizon, however, in the form of the mall owner's spoiled rotten daughter Madison (Autumn Reeser). Madison is the kind of girl who's used to getting whatever she wants, and what she wants now could prove disastrous for both Ally's ambitions, and her mother's popular music store.
The American Mall 2008
Tales from the Hood
Starz
Tales from the Hood
A strange mortician tells four horrific tales to three drug dealers that he traps in their local funeral parlor.
Tales from the Hood 1995
Who's That Girl
Who's That Girl
An uptight New York tax lawyer gets his life turned upside down, all in a single day, when he's asked to escort a feisty and free-spirited female ex-convict whom asks him to help prove her innocence of her crime.
Who's That Girl 1987

You May Also Like

Ernest Saves Christmas
Paramount+
Ernest Saves Christmas
When Santa Claus decides to retire and pass on his magic bag of Christmas surprises to a new Saint Nick, he enlists the aid of a hilarious assortment of characters. A perky teen runaway and hapless taxi driver Ernest P. Worrell must convince a skeptical kiddie-show host to take over the post of Father Christmas.
Ernest Saves Christmas 1988
Down the Drain
Prime Video
Down the Drain
A dishonest lawyer devises a scheme to rob a bank by recruiting criminals he has represented to do the job for him. When the robbery is completed, he learns that the "loot" from the vault is in fact a microchip containing top-secret information.
Down the Drain 1990
The Ernest Film Festival
The Ernest Film Festival
Before he went to camp, before he went to jail, before he saved Christmas, before he was scared stupid, before he went to Africa and before he was in the army, Ernest P. Worrell hosted a variety of commercials, and a lot of them are here on this video. He even makes public service announcements. It also features many of his bloopers.
The Ernest Film Festival 1986
Ernest Goes to School
Prime Video
Ernest Goes to School
Jim Varney's recurring dim-bulb character Ernest P. Worrell returns in this film as a school janitor seeking to obtain a high school diploma.
Ernest Goes to School 1994
Ernest Scared Stupid
Ernest Scared Stupid
Well-intentioned, eternally bumbling Ernest P. Worrell accidentally releases an evil demon from its sacred tomb. As the demon flexes its power and goes on a ruinous rampage, good-guy Ernest tries to step in to save the town from mass destruction. Trouble is, a 200-year-old curse has scared Ernest stupid, and that means hilarity all around! So, kick back and let the laugh-ridden adventures begin.
Ernest Scared Stupid 1991
Bitch Slap
Prime Video
Bitch Slap
Three bad girls - a down-and-out stripper, a drug-running killer, and a corporate powerbroker - arrive at a remote desert hideaway to extort and steal $200 million in diamonds from a ruthless underworld kingpin.
Bitch Slap 2010
Fletch Lives
Fletch Lives
Fletch is a fish out of water in small-town Louisiana, where he's checking out a tumbledown mansion he's inherited. When a woman he flirts with turns up dead, he becomes a suspect and must find the killer and clear his name.
Fletch Lives 1989
Men at Work
Prime Video
Men at Work
Two garbage men find the body of a city councilman in a trash can on their route. With help from a supervisor, the duo must solve the case and find the man's killer while hiding the body from the cops.
Men at Work 1990
Young Guns
Prime Video
Young Guns
A group of young gunmen, led by Billy the Kid, become deputies to avenge the murder of the rancher who became their benefactor. But when Billy takes their authority too far, they become the hunted.
Young Guns 1988
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Prime Video
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
A renegade Vulcan with a startling secret hijacks the U.S.S. Enterprise in order to find a mythical planet.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier 1989

Reviews

KnotMissPriceless
1990/04/06

Why so much hype?

... more
Lawbolisted
1990/04/07

Powerful

... more
Sameer Callahan
1990/04/08

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

... more
Keeley Coleman
1990/04/09

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

... more
ilovemovies2016
1990/04/10

Best Ernest movie of the series but have more to watch yet. mediocre comedy but still the best yet i have seen short and sweet review

... more
goldfussmikey
1990/04/11

I have to be in a special mood to watch this, but it's one of those movies that I watch with my dad, and we end up holding our sides from laughter.'Ernest goes to jail' is the only one of the Ernests that I can watch on a tolerating level. Although the more I've watched it with my dad, the more I've come to enjoy it. The movie is filled with quotable lines and memorable moments that just get funnier by the moment. Hats of to Jim Varney. Even though this movie really doesn't take itself seriously, he puts on an incredible performance playing two difficult roles on opposite extremes. He nails both roles to perfection. Maybe it's the family tradition that has made me warm up to this movie. Maybe it's the over-the-top drama or the quotable lines, but one thing is certain, it's never fails to make me laugh.

... more
bug76
1990/04/12

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.

... more
Lee Eisenberg
1990/04/13

This time, the lovable dimwit gets summoned for jury duty, where a corrupt attorney notices that he looks like a jailbird who wants to break out, so the two get switched. Of course, most of the movie is a series of gags; in "Ernest Goes to Jail", most of the gags relate to electricity. I really liked the whole vacuum cleaner sequence early on. Overall, the point of the movie is just to have fun, and I'm sure that you will. This is possibly the ultimate movie that you watch with a bud. It's quite safe to say that Jim Varney will truly be missed. Knowwhaddamean? FYI: the only other cast member whom I recognized was Randall "Tex" Cobb, who played Lyle. You've surely seen him somewhere.

... more