Jackass, la película

JACKASS: THE MOVIE (2002) *** Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius, Steve-O, Dave England, Ryan Dunn, Jason `Wee-Man' Acuna, Preston Lacy, Ehren McGhehey, Brandon Dicamillo, Henry Rollins, Tony Hawk, Spike Jonze. MTV's cult-classic gross-out daredevil stunt show headlined by Knoxville (nee PJ Clapp) goes gonzo on the big screen for bigger, stupider and more dangerous bits of anarchy and insanity that delivers huge, gut-wrenching laughs from the most primordial (and primal) depths with some truly gross-out sequences and arguably original inanities at hand. You've been warned! (Dir: Jeff Tremaine)

I watched Jackass: The Movie 10 years ago and I remember LOVING it. I was a 16 year old kid just as immature as the next. Ten years later, I watched it again and I still LOVED it! Either I've never matured or the stuff the Jackasses pull off is just hilarious. I'll go for the latter.

This movie is impossible to review without giving away spoilers since it's so completely random and void of a plot. So what I can say is that you'll laugh (either at least chuckle or urinate in your pants), cringe, wonder why they did that stunt, (gag, almost gag, or want to gag) and wonder how the hell these guys had the guts to do what they did.

I have a feeling that everyone likes this movie, whether they admit it or not.

Want to spend 87 minutes of your life watching a pathetic group hurting themselves in a senseless way? Jackass: The Movie is a perfect movie to do that. Its a movie that people either hate it or love it instantly. And I'm a proud person to say that I love it. Some funny scenes, gross-out scenes, and some that are just... TOO GROSS! But after the credits roll, you got to think, "How could they possibly do that?" Just to make people laugh. 9.5 stars out of 10

Quite simply, the scariest movie ever made. This includes the likes of the Seventh Seal and Working Out with Zsa Zsa Gabor. What our fellow man will do to himself to get a cheap laugh is beyond me, but it tends to work in multiple fashions. Johnny, Steve-O, Wee Man, Party Boy, Bam, Preston Lacy, Dave, Ehren and all the other fellas in this film will never win anything but my self respect. It takes guts to get hit by a tidal wave machine, go up against Butterbean and eat a urine-soaked sno-cone. While many will attribute this as a factor to the continuing downfall of society, at least it was damn funny (even with multiple viewings). Never has a film actually induced me to nearly vomit. Not for the tasteful and high faluting type.

"Jackass the Movie" defies just about every set law of film-making. It is rude, it is crude, and it is doggone hilarious. I can't really think of words to describe this film as none do so adequately. It is, of course, based upon the popular television show on MTV of the same name (except there's no "the Movie" on the end of it). Basically it is "Candid Camera" meets the X-Games meets drunkards. Its cast are a bunch of jackasses: Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius, Wee Man the Midget, Ryan Dunn, and Steve-O. They go around pulling various pranks, and sometimes - or most of the time - injuring themselves.

The humor is very selective - some will hate it and others (mainly stoned teens) will love it. Take, for instance, a gag where one of the men walks into a plumbing store and relieves himself into a display toilet. Things such as this have been insinuated before on a commercial I remember for Best Buy, but this movie shows everything - in detail - including the feces inside the toilet bowl.

Sound disgusting? Well it is. But some of the gags - for I can think of no other word to describe them - are just downright hilarious. For example, the co-creator of the TV series, Johnny Knoxville, borrows a car from a rental lot, takes it to a garage, has all the gears messed up and windows smashed, spray paints it, and then enters it into a car derby. He takes it back to the lot all smashed up and refuses to pay for the damage. He admits that he was drinking before it happened. He says they must help them pay for the damage to the vehicle. They point out that he signed a contract declaring that he would pay for all responsible damage, and he says, "Yeah, but I had a little to drink when I signed that, too."

The cast and crew seem to have not grown past the age of 13 in terms of maturity. One of the best gags involves about four men on a golf course blasting air horns during tee-offs. One golfer gets so angered that he throws a golf club at them and starts to actually tee off at the men (who are hiding behind trees on the course).

I've never quite witnessed something like "Jackass the Movie" before. It is like a giant unedited TV show stretched out to a full 80 + minutes, and let me say that this is the first time in history I have seen a TV-show-based film that I thought was too short. (Movies like "Night at the Roxbury" seem to go on forever.) "Jackass the Movie" is lots of fun - it isn't deep or intellectual, but it's fun.

This film is definitely going to gross-out certain people, and enthuse the more wacky crowds out there. But it is one of the most "technically" entertaining films of the year. It isn't a masterpiece but it is very fun to watch. Maybe I'm an immature sicko, but I liked this movie.

Before the film starts, there is a warning which reads something like "the stunts performed herein are executed by trained professionals." Let me ask: How does one train to be a jackass? This film doesn't tell us, but it sure does show us what trained jackasses are like. And you know what? Being a jackass looks fun.