Well then, this should be a simple enough review. Right on.

Here’s the rub, if you never liked the show and never had an interest in it then you should probably know better than to think this film will offer you anything more than an upset stomach. Me, I hated the show before I ever had even seen it, hating the idea of the show and everything it stood for.

Then I saw it.

And then I loved it.

Dammit! I hate it when that happens.

Nothing more or less than a series of bizarre and downright chilling pranks, I am stunned that this was released to theaters. Moreover, I am stunned it made a lot of money. That would be I surmise because it really is just damned fun. Johnny, Part-Boy, Steve-O, Bam and the rest are just so natural and are obviously having so much fun that it’s hard not to like the movie. One long gag reel, the stunts go from something as simple as three of the guys being made up as old men so they can disturbingly fight in public, to something as elaborate as the ending, where a giant human domino/mousetrap was made so they could have a spectacular finish to it all. This is not rocket science. It’s guys acting like ten year olds and getting paid a hell of a lot of money to do it. The film, in all honesty, is pretty dumb, but that’s the brilliance of it. The fact that this stuff shouldn’t be funny, and that done by other people, it isn’t funny, but by the Jackass guys, it’s genius. I guess I love them the same way I always liked the old Vaudevillians – like Keaton and Chaplin (which is not to say the Jackass guys are anywhere in that league kids), in that, they are sort of adorable dolts. They know they are doing something stupid, they know they will get hurt, and they know that there is no reason to do what they’re doing, yet they do it anyway and that’s their charm. It’s in seeing them freak out before they do something, knowing that it’s a huge mistake to even attempt it, but doing it anyway. And hell, if you can’t laugh at the sight of a grown man sticking a toy car up his ass, only to get an X-Ray of that, well then, you just don’t know funny.

The DVD has scads of extras, the best of it all being the deleted scenes in which you see a lot of the stunts that either weren’t good enough to make it into the movie, or just didn’t work out the right way. The best being the human domino rally they did. Good god was that twisted. There are also a couple commentaries, a making of, and some fun out-takes, so really, this isn’t a bad special edition. Kudos! I love that word. Hee hee.

This is not a great movie. Heck, it isn’t even a movie. It’s juvenile, silly, stupid, base, and is abhorrent  in every respect…and it’s brilliant. It is something pretty great to be able to make someone laugh by just being yourself, with or without a gross stunt involved, and these guys have that in spades. A perfect movie for a party, or when you are just feeling low.

…c…