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Jackass: The Movie (002)
I don't really know how to review a movie like Jackass. It doesn't have a plot, it lacks characters, and it doesn't have a climax. It's really just like an hour and a half version of it's source material, the half hour television show from MTV and hot shot director Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation). I liked the TV show, but like Tom Green and other shock/gross out television shows it had a problem staying fresh. This is exactly the problem Jackass has.
My main concern about Jackass: The Movie is how badly it rips off the stunts and jokes that have already been established in the pre-Jackass movies by CKY (Camp Kill Yourself) which features many members of the Jackass crew. The first stunt of the film, which features host Johnny Knoxville renting a car and then trashing it in a demolition derby is a re-hash of professional skateboarder Bam Margera's act in CKY2K. Later, when one of the members of the troupe urinates on a snowcone and then eats it I couldn't help but think of a scene in a CKY video when one member fecalates on another's face and the victim takes his revenge by urinating on the instigator's face. Like CKY, Jackass also features skateboard and BMX tricks edited in between.
It's not horrible that Jackass is a clone of it's own product. The movie screen gives it a bigger venue than the internet gave CKY and now the creators need not worry about the PG-13 censorship inflicted by MTV and America's parents once their moronic offspring started setting themselves ablaze trying to re-enact stunts. Perhaps the movie screen is the best place to view Jackass in all of it's guilty pleasure glory. After all, where else can you see guys sticking fireworks in their back ends and lighting them off?
There is some fresh material in Knoxville and Co.'s work. My two favorite bits included a staged "robbery" of a jewelry store in which Knoxville and a partner fall through the ceiling of the establishment, decked out in black ski masks and holding a bag of fake diamonds. The other skit follows Knoxville and Ryan Dunne onto the golf course, decked out in camouflage attire and sporting air horns. Every time a golfer was about to tee off a nice honk was given. Suddenly, instead of the cup being the target, the two tricksters became the green.
If Film 101 has taught me anything, it's to treat every film as if it is an experience. This experience left me with a sore face from laughing so hard. This doesn't mean it's especially good, it's just what you expect it to be. If you enjoyed the television show, you'll enjoy the movie and if you hated it, well, you get the idea. The end of the film depicts the crew performing the same act when they are old men. I can only hope after this re-vamped exercise, for their good and my own, that this doesn't go past the boundary between funny and overkill.
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