Watching this Jackass movie is less like a standard cinematic experience (minus the Hollywood ending) than it is akin to watching home movies made by a group of friends who are perpetually “double-dog” daring one another. My other thought in watching this was wondering what some of these individuals do “for a living.” Watching their antics is interesting and amusing at times, but outside of some sort MTV special or Jackass the III, how do they spend their days? Stand-up tours, speaking engagements, appearances at local malls? Or maybe like the demonic bikers in Weird Science they have teaching jobs to get back to. Onto the movie itself: some of the stunts were jaw-dropping in how far these individuals go for our benefit (Steve-O with a literal fish hook through his cheek serving as bait in shark infested waters…) and other bordered on incredibly gross. Deep-down though, they had to take it to the next level, as they pride themselves on pushing the limits of what can be attempted by “trained professionals.” Spike Jonze’s appearances were both surreal and juvenile at the same time. The final stunt has so many layers that are amusing, I don’t want to give anything away here, but is most certainly a cousin in many ways to bits by Andy Kaufman and Borat (but not without some trademark Jackass humor). What is most obvious is that all the crew is having fun, and it is hard not to laugh along with them. If only MTV would realize the cash cow they are not exploiting in not releasing the original Jackass, Buzzkill, on DVD.

There are no comments yet. You could be the first!