Jackass 3D

(2010)

Directed by

Jeff Tremaine

Review by Todd Plucknett

Posted - 10/17/10

Since the hit TV show Jackass went off the air in 2002, the usual crew of Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Wee Man, Steve-O, and company have come out with three feature films. The first one was what was supposed to be the conclusion to the show, which followed four years later with the brilliant Jackass Number Two. Now, four years after that, we get Jackass 3D. What more could a fanboy ask for?

In this film you can really see the toll that the show has taken on the crew. In the beginning episodes of the show, they were all pumped-up to mutilate and humiliate themselves, and they were able to laugh off the pain and embarrassment with everyone else. The only people who thought it was funnier than the crew was the person it was happening to. In the second one, things already started to change. At no point did any one of them want to back down from a challenge, yet they were already starting to regret doing the stunts. In that one we saw Margera cry from being locked in a cage with a snake and Chris Ponitus hauling ass to avoid getting rammed by a bull. This was while Knoxville, basically the Jackass godfather, was luring the bull back to him. It almost seemed like in Jackass Number Two that they took more pleasure in pulling pranks on each other, and the humiliation became less and less funny to the person it was happening to.

Now, following Steve-O’s well-chronicled stint in rehab and every other one of the members approaching 40 years old, it would be expected that the mayhem of it all would cool down a bit. Steve-O somehow did the entire show sober. They even make a reference to that when Steve-O is about to drink a glass of one of the fat guy’s sweat, taken from a machine hooked up to him while he was running on a treadmill wearing nothing but saran wrap. I believe it was Margera that said that it was the first cocktail that he has had in two years. That is really good for him, because you can really tell that he was totally coked-out during previous episodes. I don’t know how anyone can take a direct shot to the balls on purpose without having a few drinks in them, but hey, I have a new respect for the guy.

Some of the weaker moments in the third installment are the staged scenes. One of these is when Knoxville reprises his “old dirty man” sketch, this time in which he makes out with a teenage girl who he tells everyone is his granddaughter. It has a few amusing parts, but these staged ones are the longest of any individual part of the film and they begin to wear on the audience. Also, Margera gets trapped in a hole with snakes, again, which is really tough to watch. We don’t want to see these guys cry and show that they are actually terrified, but that is the sort of thing that brings us back to the realization that this is actually happening. But these filmmakers are brilliant editors, so that is shaken off by a follow-up scene which brings the atmosphere back to where it was.

One of the better moments was a replay of an earlier sketch, which was Steve-O bungee-jumping inside a full port-o-potty, which was previously done very early in the series by Knoxville. This was absolutely disgusting and hilarious. Another great part was when Josh Brown made an appearance and kicked a field goal right into Pontius’s face. I was just stoked to see Josh Brown onscreen (Go Big Red, by the way). This was later made even cooler when Jared Allen lit up Knoxville a few times on the football field. Oh, and Sean William Scott was the ref for that bit. Sorry Erik Ainge, you are not important enough to comment on.

But, for me at least, the absolute best parts in the films are the recurring ideas throughout the individual films. Of course in Jackass 3D this includes the giant hand close-lining each unwitting cast member walking into a room. Then there is a really funny part that has to do with water and a boxing glove, and then there is an outhouse that explodes with blue dye. Those are the types of things that just prove how well these movies are put together. The slapstick nature of the stunts makes it so the film could potentially be mashed together any way, but they are edited in a way that makes every moment a must-see. At least in the second two films, that is.

So, yeah, the 3D? Most of the scenes were not even in that format, but the few that were made for even more awesomeness. There was a camera from between one of the guy’s legs showing him urinating on the whole crew. It was gross, but the 3D made it really amusing. We got vomit in 3D, of course coming from Steve-O, who vomits almost any time something remotely gross happens. There was also the crazy part where they hook a guy’s tooth up to Margera’s Lambourghini by a thread and start the car, ripping the tooth clear out of his mouth. The opening and ending scenes were also epic uses of 3D. It was an interesting idea to put this in 3D, since when you watch a Jackass episode or movie, the last thing you think of is the fact that it cost money to make. They are ultra low-budget, and the 3D idea is fairly brilliant.

When the credits are rolling, there is a montage of classic Jackass moments and outtakes, followed by a part where each of the guys says their name and shows a childhood photo of them. It is almost like they are saying good-bye, which I think is probably for the best. These guys are now around 40 years old, and this movie in particular showed that. Instead of being pumped to injure themselves, the looks on their faces were that of “I can’t believe I am going to do this...” Their laughs seemed disingenuous at times, with the exception of Wee Man, who can’t keep a straight face during any scene. The Jackass guys had quite a run, and if it weren’t for the vision of Johnny Knoxville, Spike Jonze, and Jeff Tremaine, then we would not have had the pleasure of watching these delinquents over the past decade. It remains one of the truly oddball commentaries on society and some of the funniest bits imaginable. Perhaps seeing this movie in 3D with a packed house at the midnight premiere skewed my opinion, but I really did have a blast watching it. And if in four years we see a trailer for a Jackass 4, I would not be at all surprised, and I would be first in line to go see it.

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