Jackass: The Movie (Review)

Every teenage boy has one. That R-rated movie that they're too young to see and no matter how much you beg and plead, your parents just won't allow you to see it. Jackass: The Movie was my one. I was a big fan of the Jackass television show and I was 14 when the series hit the big screen and I kept holding out hope that my parents would let me see it, but to no avail. I finally bought the dvd about 2 years later and found it to be well worth the wait. For the uninitiated, Jackass was a popular MTV show that ran for about 3 years. Johnny Knoxville and his group of frat boy-esque friends performed various dangerous, disgusting, and hilarious stunts or pranks. The show faced the expected controversy of having brain-dead teenagers attempt the stunts that show warns people not to try, but it wasn't enough to stop Jackass from becoming one of the MTV's most popular shows.

Jackass makes the transition to the big screen flawlessly, this is largely because the show was nothing more than a bunch of random segments and the movie is just as much. Just like the show there is no plot or no script, it's all just pure idiocy at its best. With the exception of the opening and closing credit sequence, the actual technical quality of the film is only a slight fraction better than show, at best. The only real difference is that since the film isn't confined by rules of television, the cast knew they could get away with doing stunts they could never do on the show. So, we get a couple of stunts that are more dangerous and crude than usual, like Johnny trying rocket roller skates, Steve-o and Chris Pontius firing fireworks from their anus and groin respectively, and Bam Margera trying to get his mom to say fuck in addition to plenty of unblurred male ass running about. This crew of pranksters just keep on dreaming up more elaborate ways to punish themselves and it just gets funnier as the film goes along. Some of the stunts are a little too much like the paper cut bit or the incredibly unneeded segment were Dave England poops in a department store display toilet, but the good bits far out weigh the bad. The end result is a collection of some of the best physical comedy available. It's not smart, it's not witty, it's just solid entertainment.