Jackass 3.5

I watched this to regain that since of nostalgia from my teenage years watching Jackass. These guys are funny and come up with the craziest ideas you can imagine. I would hate to be part of the cast living in fear of being pranked at any moment. I could have done without the nudity but otherwise good movie and very funny.

Another Jackass .5 movie with extra footage that didn't make it into Jackass 3, but this one was not nearly as disappointing as Jackass 2.5. The scenes in this one that they cut out of Jackass 3 were better than the scenes in Jackass 2.5. In Jackass 2.5 there were a lot of interviews between the sketches, but Jackass 3.5 took it down a notch and made it more balanced between interviews/commentary and the sketches, which was good. This movie felt more like another Jackass movie than a DVD featurette, almost. I still like Jackass 2 and 3 the most though. But Jackass 3.5 is good enough to stand on its own.

I've been known to really enjoy Jackass because not only is it amusing to watch, but it's like a series of failures or bloopers compiled into a film. After being hit or injured, their only response is laughter. Like that was what they wanted to achieve. Jackass 3D was released in 2010, and like with the previous installment, a Direct-to-DVD "film" was released that included all the unused stunts that were originally cut for the film.

Jackass 3.5 was clearly released without the care and attention put to the previous film. There is no consistency. Usually in Jackass films some of the best stunts are in the middle with the big opening and the grand finale to end it off. This one is at a very slim and slender eighty-four minutes and just packs some of the mildest Jackass has ever offered. A lot of it is funny, but not a lot is very elaborate or clever.

We get Wee-Man painted into a wall, the secretary nearly peeing herself after a train horn being installed in her office goes off, and way too many kicks in the nuts. We get little random five second clips, but the most interesting is when the jackasses are face to face with the camera discussing stunts and how it is to be a jackass. Bam says it's fifty-fifty most of the time. Saying fifty percent of the time it's "fun as hell" with the remaining fifty being "anxiety and paranoia" about what will happen next. They're interesting, but not long enough to deem my satisfaction.

My two favorite stunts were "Bombs Away!" and "The Fire Gauntlet." "Bombs Away!" is when the gang fills two liter bottles of diet coke with peppermint candies and then throws them, full force, at the ground to cause a loud and messy explosion. I'm surprised my buddies and I haven't killed ourselves doing that. "The Fire Guantlet" I refuse to talk about. I want you to have the same jaw dropping reaction I did.

Heavily hyped, but ultimately lacking in cutting edge stunts and gags, Jackass 3.5 shows not much more than the movie. What was cut was made for the best because nothing here should've been in the movie, besides "The Fire Gauntlet." I did like how we saw the castmates hit and beat up on each other frequently. Maybe a spin off series will be called Jerkoff where the aged Jackasses beat up on their friends. That would be an interesting second chapter.

Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Ehren McGhehey, Dave England, Preston Lacy, and Jason "Wee-Man" Acuña. Directed by: Jeff Tremaine.

The Jackass series is gross out humour that is funny because it's stupid and people get hurt. These guys have been doing this thing for ten years now. 3 films later, the stuff they do is still funny. Jackass 3.5 is pretty exactly what Jackass 2.5 tried to be. The crew shot so much footage, that it could essentially be another movie. So instead of adding the scenes for special features, they made 2.5 and now 3.5.

If you are a bit apprehensive about this one because of the lackluster 2.5, don't be. Jackass 3.5 is hilarious and maybe even funnier than Jackass 3D. They have a better flow and format down for this addition and it shows. Everything runs smoother, it's not horribly intercut every time with interviews that we don't care about. Every so often it will cut to someone explaining something, but 2.5 was interview overkill. Here they have significantly cut it back and let the stunts do the talking.

3.5 showcases a lot more male nudity then the other entries, I think you see Pontius and his penis 4 times...in super slow motion no less. Using the state of the art Phantom camera, that big productions like Sherlock Holmes used, we get to see male parts move around in slow motion. Hilarious and disturbing at the same time.

This is a recommendation for any fan of the series. The DVD has some nice features as well, you get a look at the initial creation of the show, how half-assed the stunts were and how young everyone is. It's nostalgic.

In short, Jackass 3.5 is funny and a big step up from the disappointing 2.5, which definitely should have been left for deleted scenes. Jackass 3.5 is worth the viewing.

Jackass 3.5 is the superior .5 out of the two that feels more complete than its predecessor thanks to a longer run time and more sketches. There's a better balance between insightful behind the scenes and fun interviews that further reinforce the group's strong chemistry as well as some truly iconic stunts that are just as good as the ones in the actual film. Jeff Tremaine's direction is great and the opening is genuinely one of the strongest and most fun out of the whole franchise. However, like all Jackasses the flaw lies in a few gags that are gross rather than funny.