Film Reviews : Get your gag reflexes in gear cause Jackass is back!

Sitting, waiting for JACKASS 3D to start and watching people filter in, the first thing I noticed was that they were mainly men. No big surprises there I guess. The second thing that caught my eye was they were nearly all holding a plastic cup of lager. I started to worry that my Robinsons Fruit Shoot and Mars Bar wasn’t going to cut it and that I needed alcohol to make it watchable. Luckily this movie didn’t need liquid lubrication, although I don’t doubt it may have added extra levels of fun.
I should add a disclaimer to this review and say I’m not a crazy Jackass fan. Nor am I particular enamoured with slapstick comedy (unless it’s Charlie Chaplin) or puerile humour (unless it’s The Inbetweeners). Suffice it to say, I had a few reservations about the movie; particularly how it would affect my stomach. But I decided to let my reservations slide right out the auditorium (along with my morals) in the hope that I might be able to squeeze out a laugh or two.
As grotesque, disgusting, and literally vomit-inducing as some of it was. I sort of… Kind of… Liked it.
As soon as the first skit, ‘High Five’, got underway I knew that I could settle into the Jackass comedy mindset. This introductory prank consisted of a giant hand on an elastic lever. Wait for it… The leader of the man-child pack, Johnny Knoxville, pulls the hand back behind a door and when an unsuspecting victim walks through the frame, he says ‘High Five’ and simply let’s go. I defy anyone not to grin at that. Pranks like ‘Ram Jam’, where two jackasses go into a ram’s pen with a couple of wind instruments and see if they can tame the wild beast (Guess what? They can’t) and ‘Bee Tetherball’, in which two of the guys hit a hive filled with mad-as-hell stinging insects, showcase the Jackass ethic at its best. Create a well thought out prank, and then watch it go hilariously wrong. Unfortunately some of the jokes fall much flatter than others.
There were some moments that just didn’t work for me; mostly it involved the candid camera stunts. The odd skits of Knoxville dressed as a lairy old granddad fooling innocent bystanders didn’t hold their own, but I’d be lying if I said even the duds didn’t raise the slightest of smirks. One joke that included a fake gorilla and an apparently unaware couple arriving at the hotel to find it wrecking their room, really didn’t work. It was just too obvious a gag to actually make them crap their pants (as one of them noisily did on-screen). Another fakery seemed to be the laughter of the gruesome group, at times it seemed Wee Man, Steve-O, Bam Margera and co. were putting it on purely for the audience’s benefit. Though there’s no doubt that this was done on purpose, because the harder they laugh at the sheer stupidity of their antics, the more we do.
I wouldn’t say I run screaming at the sight of bodily fluids, but at least two of the stunts had me almost gagging on my king-size Mars Bar (in hindsight, the chocolate was a bad idea). Aptly named ‘sweat cocktail’ and ‘poo cocktail extreme’, I’ll leave the details to your imagination. Titles like this give a good warning to all those thinking of watching: disgust levels remain pretty high throughout the movie and that’s where they like to keep them. If you retch violently at the sight of faeces, vomit, sweat, and/or urine, take your jacket off and sit down to watch a re-run of Friends, because this isn’t for you.
Was the 3D necessary? No, probably not. But it caught me by surprise that rather than it being a cash-making gimmick, it actually did enhance the comedy in parts. The beginning and end sections used it to great effect, and throughout the movie, director Jeff Tremaine, added in slow motion 3D re-runs of some of the most wince-inducing stunts. And seriously, can you think of anything funnier than seeing a three-dimensional dildo flying through the air in slow motion and hitting a well-placed person square in the face? Nope, me either.
Dedicated fans of the show may have a tear in their eye (not just from laughing) watching the nostalgic videos that linger over the end credits. Truly it is awe-inspiring to think that these guys have been living in the face of dangerous stupidity for ten years, and are still alive to show us the goodies. Watching Knoxville come close to breaking his neck after being charged by an angry bull makes you realise either these guys are the luckiest idiots in the world, or they are extremely clever and talented stunt men. I know which one of those I think is true.
You could say this film is socially irresponsible. You could say it’s morally inept. Or you could just read the disclaimers, crack open a brewski and let the testosterone-driven madness take over. Don’t expect a storyline, there isn’t one. This is like watching YouTube videos of your mates putting together montages of idiocy purely for yours and their amusement. Don’t go thinking it’s going to be something it’s not. Like intelligent. Or wholesome. Or fluffy (well there are some “fluffy” elements in there, but I won’t get into that).
It’s not big, it’s not clever, but it is hilariously sick fun.
C+