(Portions of this review have been pulled from the original one-disc version of Jackass, which can also be found in the reviews portion of the site)Synopsis
One could make an attempt at witty prose by comparing Jackass to the works of Kubrick, Cassavettes, Scorsese, or what have you. But look, it’s a bunch of guys, some of whom have reputations in other circles, such as skateboarder Bam Margera and acclaimed director Spike Jonze, doing stunts that you may not have thought, dared or …emotely considered doing, and keeping parts of the general public off guard. The gang made a huge splash on MTV, and scores of crazed teens wanted to try what these guys were doing, and maybe appear on the show. I think the quote from Millhouse on the Simpsons says it best: “All those warnings on TV make me want to do it more”. The kids would get burned, broken, what have you, and parents who couldn’t crack the whip hard enough at home decided to sue anyone under the sun, despite the profuse warnings on each show, as well as a timeslot shift early on in the series’ life. So Johnny Knoxville became this decade’s Beavis, which I guess makes Steve-O Butthead. So, after judging (perhaps correctly) there wasn’t anything really left to do on TV, they decided to step things up and do a movie, and a $5 million budget led to a gross of over $60 million and a sequel that may make the same amount.
As far as reviewing the actual movie goes, come on. You didn’t read the first paragraph? Let me pull a quote from the back of the Paramount case: “all the jackasses you love from the mtv series are back performing stunts no one would let them pull on television.” If you’re still unsure, the insert, featuring the X-ray of Ryan Dunn’s lower half, should tell you what kind of ride you’re in for. And golf course air horn, hardware store crap and off road tattoo are among the many buckets of fun.
Audio
Same audio as before, in English 2.0 and 5.1, and you’re not misreading this, I said it’s 5.1. There are some effects that do get to the rear speakers, surprisingly enough. Overall, it doubles as a pretty good excuse to hear the Ramones, Slayer and K.C. and the Sunshine Band in 5.1.
Video
The 1.85;1 anamorphic widescreen disc is the same transfer from before. You’ve seen the show; a lot of it is DV camcorders, and that kind of quality is going to translate over here.
Special Features
The big extra for this disc is the movie ticket that was included for the cinematic tour de force Jackass 2. If you still have the ticket, it expires 6 weeks after the posting date of this new review, so you’re out of luck. Otherwise the extras mainly stick around for this double dip. There are 27 minutes of additional footage, some of which is pretty funny, and other material was extended from the brief 20 or 30 second cuts you may have seen in the film. There are also 7 minutes of outtakes that consist primarily of flubbed lines. An MTV making of featurette is included, and it’s basically the same EPK that was shown before, with some minor changes.
There are two commentaries on the disc, the first is with the director, cinematographer, and Johnny Knoxville. This was taped during the 2nd week of box office release, as everyone is still marveling at the box office take from week one. This sticks pretty close to the film, not really straying, and Knoxville talks about some of the experiences with his stunts. There’s a lot of “look at this!” in the commentary, which was nice, considering they aren’t Scorsese and DeNiro, I wouldn’t expect too much information here. The second commentary is from the Jackass crew, consisting of just about everyone involved in the stunts. The main participants seem to be Bam Margera, Steve-O and Ryan Dunn. A lot of times several people are talking at once, and a lot of people are making fun of each other, and those who didn’t show for the commentary. This was taped the day after the premiere, just before the theatrical release. You’re not going to get a lot of information out of these tracks, but you can tell the amount of fun that everyone had in the filming of it, and may be worth a couple chuckles to the hard core fan. The videos and stills galleries are chucked from the first version to make way for some more additional footage, along with a teaser for the sequel.
Closing Thoughts
I saw this in the theater, which should let you known where my bias is on it. As I was watching it, two things that struck me while I was watching it: the ushers who periodically roamed the aisles looking for underage kids who snuck in, so they could get rid of them, and perhaps avoid any potential lawsuits from careless parents down the road. Also, near the end of it, one of the Exit signs had ignited, and was filling the room with smoke. We started pointing it out, and the staff didn’t seem to take to it, as if we were playing with their heads or something, considering the movie we were watching. To sum up, 7 employees and 2 or 3 county sheriffs decided to not do anything while the last 15 minutes of the movie played. In trying to get the review done, my power went out sometime while I was at work, and didn’t come on until after we went to bed. Despite these little karmic plots to stop me from seeing and reviewing this, the movie is pretty funny in parts, a bit gruesome in others, and should be taken as the silly fun that it is. The decent features included with it make it easy to recommend to fans of the show, and a rental to curious observers.
Special Features List
- Director/Cast & Crew Commentary
- Cast Commentary
- Deleted Scenes
- Making of Featurette
- Trailer