THE COUNSELOR (Rated R) and BAD GRANDPA (Rated R)

This week is a double bill of R-rated fare, one of them a comedy and the other a crime thriller that is mostly laughable. One film is funny, while the other is cartoonish in its violence and absurd in its dialogue.

“The Counselor” represents the maiden original screenplay written by acclaimed author Cormac McCarthy (“No Country for Old Men”). This film is proof that his work is best translated to screen by others.

Ostensibly film noir dressed up with some bleak humor, “The Counselor” seemingly had great promise, or so it seemed from trailers that suggested exciting action with interesting characters at the core.

On the plus side, there is a surfeit of talented A-list actors, though a few are wasted. Lovely as ever, Penelope Cruz, as the standout example, has little to do as the lone innocent victim.

Cruz’s Laura is the object of affection for an El Paso lawyer who is known only as Counselor (Michael Fassbender).

We assume this criminal defense attorney is successful because he drives a Bentley and flies off to Amsterdam just to buy his girlfriend Laura a huge, sparkling diamond ring.

One of the Counselor’s wealthier clients is the eccentric Reiner (Javier Bardem), a shady nightclub owner connected to drug cartels. Sporting a horrible fright wig, gaudy clothes and oversized glasses, Bardem often seems to be channeling a bad impression of Christopher Walken.

Reiner’s partner and love interest is Cameron Diaz’s Malkina, an emotionless, cutthroat vixen and true sociopath (she’s got a terrible outdated two-tone hairdo, which supposedly makes her look the part).

Outside the violence, the film’s most shocking scene involves the insatiably demented Malkina having sex with Reiner’s sports car, while he watches from the passenger seat. Don’t ask me to explain this.

The convoluted story of “The Counselor” involves Fassbender’s attorney, overcome by greed, asking to get in on a big drug deal, where Brad Pitt’s philosophizing Westray, decked out in a Stetson and Western garb, serves as the mysterious middleman with the cartel.

That the Counselor, fully aware of the dangers, would get involved with the Mexican drug traffickers on a big score is ludicrous. One has to wonder how stupid this guy is. How many times did it take him to pass the bar exam?

Naturally, it doesn’t take long for the Counselor to find out that he’s way in over his head, putting his life and that of his loved one in great danger. Ruthless, graphic violence follows suit.

Assume the worst, grisly behavior by vicious cartel thugs, and you’ve pretty much summed up where “The Counselor” is headed. The fake eloquence of the dialogue doesn’t make it any better.

The most interesting of the bad guys is Brad Pitt’s cowboy philosopher, who often speaks in riddles but dispenses advice with teasing amusement. Sadly, there is little to recommend for “The Counselor.”

It’s hard to imagine that the better movie of the week involves Johnny Knoxville doing his usual “Jackass” stunts, fooling ordinary citizens as the homespun and slightly tamer version of Borat.

The comedy of “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa” operates from a simple candid camera premise. Donning geriatric makeup, Knoxville’s 86-year-old recently widowed Irving Zisman journeys across the American heartland with his 8-year-old grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll).

Irving has custody of Billy because the kid’s mother is heading back to jail on a drug charge, and the duo are traveling to North Carolina so the boy can be reunited with his deadbeat father. They hit the road in Irving’s vintage Lincoln, with the dead grandma in the trunk.

Right from the start, the precocious Billy proves adept at improvising shock-inducing lines, such as telling strangers in a waiting room that his mother’s bad breath is from smoking too much crack.

Actually, Nicoll’s Billy is a natural at pulling pranks, a sort of Johnny Knoxville mini-me, but at times even more mischievous and adroit at teasing the adults with his sly, playful demeanor.

As Billy and Irving get to know each other better, a tender bond develops, though mostly they put their minds together to wreak the maximum amount of havoc and surprise upon their prank victims.

More often than not, those on the receiving end prove to be warily receptive, even accommodating to their bizarre behavior. Things don’t go as smoothly when Irving knocks over a restaurant’s large plastic penguin while trying to park his car, incurring the owner’s verbal wrath.

Now widowed, Irving’s libido is in overdrive, and he’s mildly provocative in his attempts to pick up women of all ages, sizes and appearances. Otherwise, he’s pretending to endanger Billy, such as when they sit drinking from beer cans at a picnic table in front of many passersby.

One of the more outrageous antics involve Irving trying to pick up black ladies at a male strip joint, where he decides to join the action on the dance floor, much to the horror of the patrons. I’ll leave out the part about the exposure of certain body parts.

Fans of the “Jackass” franchise will likely be thrilled. Others should be cautioned that there is plenty of low-brow humor and the usual scatological gags that may be off-putting.

Overall, taking away some of the more vulgar set-pieces, “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa” offers plenty of laughs and is considerably less offensive and degrading than Sasha Baron Cohen’s antics in “Borat.”

If you enjoy the film, don’t make a mad dash for the exits during the credit roll. You don’t want to miss the behind-the-scenes outtakes and discover that many who fell for the pranks were good-natured.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.