Jackass Number Two

(Movie Review)

So I was hanging out with a couple friends on a Friday night, and someone put this movie in.

I have never seen any of the other Jackass movies, haven’t watched the TV show (I think I might have seen a bit of it once when flipping channels, or something, but it didn’t pull me in) and I’m not interested in it. But sometimes when you’re with a group of friends, you end up watching things you normally would not.

It’s a bit hard to review a movie like this because it’s just a series of pranks and stunts. There’s no real plot or anything, so there’s no scripting or character development or acting to critique. You just watch the various stunts, and if you laugh, great, and if not, there’s not much else to say.

For most of the movie I was more disgusted than anything else, and the laughs from me were few and far between. If I had been at home watching this alone, I think I would have turned it off within the first half hour. But because I was with a group of guys, I stuck it out and watched the whole thing with them. Even though my predominant reaction throughout most of the movie was “Why in the world am I watching this?”

The creativity from sketch to sketch varied widely. Eating the piece of excrement bit, and drinking the horse semen part both seemed to me like they were scraping the bottom of the creativity barrel. (I can understand that the pressures of filling up a weekly TV show make you include all sorts of filler, but I was expecting more creativity from a movie.)

On the other hand, parts like the bees in the limo, while admittedly a bit cruel, at least was thinking outside the box. I also liked the rodeo see-saw part.
The taxi driver sketch at the end was an interesting premise, but I had trouble believing the intended prank victim was really dumb enough to not realize what was going on, and so the whole thing seemed a bit fake to me.

Much of the movie seemed to me like a Rorschach test. What was happening on screen was only half the show. The audience reaction was where the interesting part was happening. Will you find it funny, disgusting, amusing or revolting? Will you complain that our culture has finally hit rock bottom, or will you admire the comedic genius of these guys? How hard will you laugh and which parts in particular will hit your comedy level?
As such, it probably goes without saying that this movie needs to be watched with a group of friends so that you can see each other’s reactions. It’s no fun being grossed out all alone.

As for me—well I guess I’ve been a prude all my life. Even back in elementary school I remember being disgusted by the fart jokes and the scatological humor that some of my classmates found so hilarious. To me, most of this movie was based on either just being gross, or self-inflicted injuries, or self-mutilation. In most of these sketches I kept waiting for the greater punch line to arrive until I realized this was it—this was what I was supposed to be laughing at.

So I wasn't impressed. But, somewhat to my surprise, according to rottentomatoes.com, this movie did well with the critics who gave it overall positive reviews. So I guess maybe I'm the one who's out of step with society.

Link of the Day
Noam Chomsky - Controlling the Public Mind

and The Wit and Wisdom of “Fox & Friends” Anchors

Jackass Number Two: Movie Review (Scripted)