I have always loved Varney's Ernest character. None of his movies are real pieces of movie magic. They are mere catalysts for Ernest to show his comedy ability. I believe that Ernest Goes to Camp and Jail are the best "movie" movies of the series but my favorite for general comedy is Rides Again because of the small asides that Ernest goes into during the film. I have no doubt that these movies are incredibly annoying if you are not a fan of Ernest but I love the subtle, unrelated to plot, funny without the movie, similar to sketch humor moments in Rides Again that shows some of the best Varney humor. "Blasting caps, that'll scare them, a brain is terrible thing to waste, map, map, where's the map, oh come now don't tell me you've lost that bloody map, oh no sir, that maps around here somewheres" all done in three different pirate voices.

The Ernest films are pretty much all the same: amiable, clunky, dumb, with an inspired moment every half hour or so. This is the exception. Same writers, same production company, but for some reason they decided to forget about plausibility and go straight for surrealism -- and the result is one of the funniest movies ever made. There's a story of sorts (lots of people chasing a revolutionary war cannon purported to contain the Crown Jewels of England), and a moral of sorts (don't be afraid to risk), but they're just scaffolding for the gags and shtick. The script abounds in throwaway lines that have no relation to anything else ("I haven't seen anything like this since the Bay of Pigs"), scraps of ridiculous dialogue (the history professor sees Ernest with a possibly valuable artifact: "Where did you get that?" "France." "Where in France?" "Outside Paris"), and all sorts of off-the-wall bits (the professor doing Elvis, the Mighty Workboy song). Jim Varney does a few of his standard issue klutzy-Ernest bits, but they just set the real humor in higher relief. Plus, the supporting cast is great: Tom Butler as the villain, alternately sadistic and zoned-out ("Yes...but many men died"); Ron James as the nebbishy professor ("Herpetology is not my field"); and the magnificent Linda Kash, stealing the picture as the professor's domineering wife ("Really hate that tie, dear. Really do.") I've seen this movie maybe ten times, and it gets stranger and funnier every time. If you're expecting something that makes sense, you'll be disappointed, but if you just sit back and watch the weirdness, you're in for a comic classic. 10 out of 10, no hesitation.

I loved this show. I thought this show was creative, unique, very funny, and most amazing of all-clean. Jim Varney was so funny my sides ached for days after watching him. In this age it seems practically every movie I've seen that has tried to produce humour has a scene that involves a toilet and/or shows someone being kicked in the groin( I wouldn't think anyone[especially males]would think that was funny). This movie is an example of filmmakers actually having to think to produce a good, funny, screen play. The plot was turning in many interesting directions making it impossible to figure out the ending (films can get old when producers make movies with the same old plots over and over again). I throughly enjoyed this film and I hope many more people will.

This Film Has absolutely no redeeming points, badly acted, badly directed. So bad I can't believe they actually made more than one. If only Jim Varney spent more time acting and less time mugging to camera it might be a little more bearable. You can imagine the director shouting "this scene calls for a number 2 expression Jim!".The "sitting on the runaway Cannon scene" is painfully predictable, with the very obvious use of stuntmen making the whole thing unwatchable, don't touch it!!!!!!