Jackass Number Two

Johnny Knoxville has gone insane.

In the first Jackass he delighted in practical jokes more so than the physical stuff – his opening car rental gag and the later bit involving an air horn on a golf course were more akin to some type of extreme Candid Camera – but in Jackass: Number Two he's really off his rocker.

Beginning with a sequence where he is chased through a living room by a bull, or later when he rides a rocket (a stunt which almost cost him his life due to an unexpected explosion from the side of the rocket), and especially when he stands willfully in front of a defense mechanism and takes a spray of pellets to the stomach, Knoxville is a madman. In the first film Bam Margera and Steve-O – notorious party animals – were the daring ones, but you know it's pretty bad when you see Knoxville enticing them to do a stunt.

This is essentially a series of stunts pulled off by guys consumed by testosterone, constantly trying to one-up each other. It will eventually end in death for one of the cast members – in Jackass 2 Steve-O nearly loses a leg to a shark, Knoxville (as aforementioned) is nearly impaled with an explosion from a rocket, and so on and so forth. Jackass 3 has already been confirmed owing to the success of 2, and frankly I can't imagine any stunt out-performing the bull run in the opening scene of this film – that's incredible footage. It's almost unbelievable, and I wondered whether it had been faked, but apparently it was 100% genuine. (Which is actually kind of frightening.) And in terms of extremes Jackass 2 far outdoes its predecessor – it also feels more cinematic than the first film, with less of the cheesy titles preceding stunts that were made famous on the original MTV television show.

Unfortunately, the boys were given too much freedom here, and a good number of the gags are simply lame exercises in crudity – I can enjoy the occasional poop gag, but watching a man relieve himself on a miniature toilet, or see Steve-O take beer up the butt (yes, honestly), gets grating after a while. Even the frat boys in the screening I attended – who were enthusiastic when Wee Man took a playing card up the rear and got zapped by a rigged chair – were disgusted by some of the scenes in this film. It's not a matter of getting away with as much as possible – it's a matter of saying, "Is this even entertaining or funny?" Many times, sadly, it really isn't.

But for every lame stunt involving fecal matter and farting on people's faces, there are some brilliant hidden-camera bits. Wacky director Spike Jonze ("Adaptation") dresses up as an old woman and hits the streets naked, with sagging breasts and no shame. And my personal favorite skit involved Knoxville as an irresponsible old man, out for lunch with his grandson, letting him drink alcohol and smoke and swear and insult people. That's classic comedy taken to new extremes with the liberties of an R-rating. It's a shame they had to ruin all the great stuff – including a final segment involving an elaborate terrorist prank – with poop jokes along the way.

Still, there's enough sheer spirit and craziness in this film to merit a viewing, and it's really taken the concept of extremity in cinema to new heights.

How do you describe the plot of a "Jackass" film? A group of guys (including Bam Margera and Johnny Knoxville) do a variety of stupid stunts that could seriously injure or kill them. Nobody dies, but there is plenty of bodily injury to go around.

If you're the type of person who didn't like "Jackass" (the show or the movie), I have no idea why you'd watch "Jackass 2". You know what it is: violence, nudity, bodily fluids. But if you liked the show and the movie, I am willing to bet you'll like the sequel even more. I liked it more, as have pretty much everyone I spoke with. Why? Because there is a better flow to this one with less repetition.

The only thing this film really lacked for me was Party Boy, because I love seeing Party Boy dancing to his theme song. But I can overlook this (especially because Bunny the Lifeguard shows up).

Some of the stunts here were very clever. I liked the teeter-totter with the bull. Some of the rocket-powered wheelchairs and shopping carts were a nice touch. (Allegedly, much of this film was inspired by "Looney Tunes" -- and I will say this was far more entertaining than any of those cartoons.)

The best stunt by far was "Terror Taxi". I don't want to give the thing away, but here's the premise: a man dressed up as a stereotypical terrorist (turban, beard and even explosives strapped to his chest) gets in a taxi and asks to go to the airport. This stunt is not only really ballsy, and possibly too soon after 9/11 to be considered funny by most people, but wait until you see where it goes from there. No stunt has ever gone this far and probably never will again.

I am not going to say "see this movie" or "don't see this movie". With most films I review, I feel it's a good idea to recommend movies to people and tell them if it's their type of film. Well, in this case, I think you know if you're going to be a fan of "Jackass" or not, because if you're thinking about renting it, you probably already know what to expect.

It's what you expect. It induces laughter, cringing, and dry-heaving, not necessarily in that order. It's over-the-top. You will see things that you may never be able to erase from your mind's eye. " Jackass Number Two" is better than the first; the actors definitely took more risks while filming this movie. There are many stunts which could have killed the actors, especially Johnny Knoxville. The treatment of animals was suspect, but other than that, the movie achieved what is was made to achieve. If you like the preview, see the movie. If you don't, steer clear!

8 out of 10

The sequel is exactly what you will expect it to be. And it is good enough that everyone who would have wanted to watch this should leave it happy.

This is not a movie that will win an Academy award. But it does take what made the Jackass TV show and original movie a success, and it turns it up a notch. It is funnier, more brutal, and more disgusting than the original. And I loved every minute of it.

The original had a few notorious stunts, and there is at least one stunt that this movie will be remembered for. You will wince, cringe, look away, and laugh very, very hard.

In any event, you probably do not need to read this review, or any others, to know if you will like this movie, unless you have never heard of Jackass.

Yes. Bam cried a couple times and so did Englund. And most probably you will too. The whole cast is back in action and Knoxville has stepped up to become the true leader of this gang of messed-up retards (I mean this in the best possible way). I first thought, maybe Bam or Steve-O were the main go-to guys....nope, the main man is now Johnny. Don't get me wrong, everybody, and I mean everybody is great in this flick! Right from the get-go you're laughing, and believe you me, don't plan on resting that smile of yours. I personally think the movie definitely has better moments than the first. You know when you go into a theater, and you kind of don't want to have high expectations for it.....well, this movie blows all expectations away. If you love Jackass, you can go into this with gigantic expectations. No matter what you'll laugh your ass off. If you're not laughing, the reason is most likely someone has a gun in your face telling you if you laugh you die or maybe you are embarrassed about the sound of your laugh or the highest probability is that you were eating Jack Sh!t for breakfast and Jack left town. All I have to say is, prepare yourself to have a sore face after the movie. :)