Don't Try This At HomeMy wife's a big fan of the cast and concept of Jackass, and given her disability (I mean, aside from being a big fan of Jackass) she hasn't been out to a movie in a very long time. So, when we saw that Jackass Number Two was debuting September 22nd I quickly had it in mind to take her out to see it.
Most movie theaters these days are wheelchair accessible, and we knew the Regal Cinema we were going to was set up to at least accomodate a few wheelchairs in each theater. We called ahead to be sure the individual theater (they're almost all multiplexes these days) was set up accordingly, and it was... which is fitting since if the fans of any movie would be expected to be in wheelchairs it would be this one.So, that's where Ari/Sue (depends on where one knows her from), Nick and I (Travis wobbled in and out of the plans, and in the end decided the aches from being the star of the previous day's football game at school left him better off in a comfortable chair playing video games) headed to early this Saturday afternoon.
As for the movie, we each enjoyed it his or her own fashion, but knowing that she was not only enjoying the stunts but simply getting out for part of the day made it better for all three of us.
If you're at all familiar with the defunct MTv series, its spin-off shows (Viva La Bam, Wild Boyz and Homewrecker, to name the three that come immediately to mind), and the first movie then you'll know what to expect. It's not a movie in any real sense. There's no plot. It's essentiall a string of stunts and pranks. Keep in mind this is an R-Rated movie and they've had four years of build-up since the first Jackass movie, so expect that they felt the pressure to go for lots of "you won't see this on tv soon" material.
Some video clips and various shots from the movie (and some that didn't make the final cut -- though I expect we'll see them on the DVD set) are on the movie's official site.
The core concept is having people do stunts that one would have to be a little soft in the head (or perhaps very dense) to do, along with staging events to scare or shock the locals. Originally this was happening here in our corner of Pennsylvania, but as time rolled on they've spread out and done some globe-hopping.
The sketches/stunts in the movie range from stunts that risk life and limb, to gross-out humor to put-ons intended to push the buttons of the civilians. The gross-out humor's the part I have a difficult time watching, especially the "eat/drink this" type stunt, which is when I tend to look away. I don't need to see that. Fortunately there's only a couple of those in this movie.
Many of the stunts cross the line between stunts brothers might play on each other and have a heavy sense of homo-eroticism mixed immediately with sado-masochism. Having one guy brand a cock and balls (which looked as if it was a novelty cookie cutter) on another's ass, or replacing the bell-ringer and the bell in a carnival mallet game with a metal dildo and someone's naked butt.., well, it's difficult to see it as anything but based in homo-eroticism. (Both involved Bam Margera on the receiving end.)It shows that these people have known each other for years, though I expect that some of them get on each others' nerves more than others.
Some of the immediately memorable bits from the film are the firehose rodeo, the rocket ride, several stunts involving wonderful, full-body makeup to turn someone (Johnny Knoxville is the guy, but I don't know who is in makeup as the woman) into elderly people who go out into the world to act inappropriately, a sort of tandem bungee jump from a bridge, bees in a limo, a leech on the eyeball, and a practical joke they play on each other in a hotel hallway. Plenty of very short stunts are peppered throughout despite the set-up for them obviously taking hours, so I suspect there's enough unused footage to fill more than a day.
The humor is definitely lowbrow, so if you're predisposed to feeling superior to such things then, well, you probably wouldn't have come near the film anyway.
There are some cameos in the movie by John Walters, who makes Wee Man disappear with the help of a friend, and Rip Taylor, too, in a much briefer scene doing what Rip Taylor's been doing all his career.
The biggest star to come from the Jackass phenomenon is Johnny Knoxville, one of the initial show's creators, who has gone on to a film career. Last year he starred in two widely-promoted movies, the tv-to-film Dukes of Hazzard and the somewhat Jackass-like in concept The Ringer -- a movie that many likely took to be a rip-off of the South Park episode where Cartman entered the Special Olympics expecting an easy win, despite the script for The Ringer being written and submitted much earlier. (Hey, it's easier to get a half hour cartoon done.) And, if plans are still on track, he's supposed to be the lead in B. Clay Moore & Steven Griffin's Hawaiian Dick, an adaptation of their Image comic centering on a 1950s detective dealing with a mix of crime and the supernatural; that's tentatively set for 2007.
Watching Jackass Number Two I got the impression several times that others in the cast are hoping to be spotted by Hollywood. Knoxville has the most obvious leading man looks in the group, so it's no surprise he broke out first, but there's potential among others in the group, too.Bam Margera, for one, who looked better in the film than he does in this shot from last year, has light blue eyes that catch the camera when he looks into it. I could see someone looking to clean him up and try him in front of the camera in some action comedy, for instance.
That they decided to put together a Busby Berkely-esque musical number (punctuated with stunts) towards the end of the movie had something of the feel of an audition to it -- not that I can blame any of them for trying. If Ryan Dunn, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, or some of the others manage to make a lucrative hook-up out of this, good for them, I say. After all, they can't keep doing this sort of thing for much longer.
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Same kid is anxious to come and visit the Nortons. Not to offend, but it's less to do with the Nortons and more to do with your proximity...heh. She also reports to me, with a sadness in her eyes, that Bam Margera is married and has a child. Which bothers me, too, but I can't save the world, you know.
Glad, though, beyond the destination, that Ari felt up to getting out and that it was something she enjoyed. I'm sure you enjoyed sharing it with her. THAT, would have been reason enough for me to sit through the movie.
I'm sure a review could simply be written on the basis of examining the dynamic of how well these antics are aging with these players and vice versa. Had it been more than just four years (less for some, since Steve-O and friends have kept going with Wildboyz) I'd have been more tempted to do it.
Watching for reports of truly catastrophic injuries or even deaths as these guys continue to try to hold onto their resilient youth/ perhaps the only job skills they have will become a minor hobby for many.
In this vein it's interesting to see that Johnny Knoxville, the oldest in the group (and not much more than a month off of 10 years younger than me) was by all reports one of if not the most enthusiastic about getting back to the slapstick stunts. Some behind-the-scenes/ making of clips MTv was pushing last week showed that he kept pushing the director to go back and shoot more, even if it was spending part of a day driving around, looking for appropriately large and well-placed street signs for him to run into full tilt -- none of which ended up in the film., I will note.
Thanks for the visit!
In some instances the Jackass folks have crossed lines, but I have kept in mind that it was all voluntary and their pranks have often been funny, some of them in a "I can't believe they'd do that" way.
Absolutely juvenile, but it has its occasional place in the kingdom of my amusements.
One thing that is an important distinction for me is that there is generally some degree of restraint. There was a Brit show called Team Sanchez that crossed the line in a way that had us quickly switching it off, as they were brutally sadistic to each other and often judged the success of a bit by whether or not any blood had flowed. No, not for us. No one here wanted to watch that. A more recent (current) series The Dudesons generally goes in that direction, too, as they often tend to do things to injure each other, which makes it unwatchable to me. The Jackass crew will take shots at each other, but in most instances it's a case of people (foolishly) bringing it on themselves.
In the Jackass film there's only a couple spots that tap into that (the branding incident being one of them) and even then it's not dwelled on long. The only spot where someone bleeds a little and they make a point of it is in the aftermath of the firehose rodeo. There a 30-ish ft length of firehouse is suspended from a crane, someone holds onto it, with arms and legs down towards the end and the pressure's turned on, so that it's a wild, whipping ride as the jet of water blasts down into the mud like a rocket stilt the rider tries to keep balanced under him. Honestly, that's one of the few things in the movie that I'd like to do. It is a brutal ride, though, and the nozzle housing's a bit rough not only on the guy's jeans (they were torn) but on his own tender parts, so post-ride the guy had some abrasions and a little bleeding high and inside on the thigh and on the buttocks. It should be noted that as they went in for a shot (plenty of guy's butts in this film, as previously noted) someone mentioned "a Jackass first."
Is this a movie I would have gone out to see for myself? No.
This is one of those acquired tastes that I got into because my wife had enjoyed the show. Curiously, like most women and some humor-challenged guys (I know I'll get some flak for that one, though that's less derisively phrased than it was originally) she doesn't in the least enjoy anything to do with the Three Stooges. There's a subject for psychological study all in itself, since the only significant difference between the Three Stooges' antics and those of the Jackass crew is that the Stooges' stunts were faked and that they were older. Okay, no, now that I think of it the Stooges' traumas were often inflicted on each other, mostly by Moe on the other two. So, okay, that's an important distinction.
As I noted to her after the showing she was almost certainly the only woman in the theater who was there because this was her pick. All the other women there appeared to be girlfriends or wives of guys who wanted to go see it.
Some info for middle child: Though we live in the general area were it not for the tv show (and recognizing some of the locales) we wouldn't know they existed. We've never taken a driving tour to see how close we could get to Bam, Ape and Phil -- I suspect that sort of things must have really gotten irritating a long time ago. My expectation is that intruders (rightfully) see the absolutely worst side of Bam and family.
Also, the in-house expert I've just consulted informs me that while Bam once proposed to Jen Rivell (who's 6 years older than him) they've never been married, and her child is hers from a previous marriage.
They've recently (this past May) been involved in a very messy (as in the cops getting involved) break-up which appears to include drug use by Jen.
I'll resist adding "So he can still be yours if you hurry!" because that would be cruel and very un-parental. >;D
(Couldn't help myself. Really.)
In the end, I find less of a need to demonize it than, say, something like boxing. At least the Jackass crew and the ones they inspired are being more creative about how to put themselves through punishment and are far more entertaining, on average, doing so.
Yes, Tammy! Embrace your inner Jackass! ;)
This is one of those situations where I find myself putting far more effort into the postscript on a piece than I'd intended. Jackass and its descendants are a decidedly low form of comedy, and it's nothing any parent would want for their children to emulate. On the other hand, if we cast our minds honestly back to our indestructable youths, I suspect some of us could see having gotten involved in something like this if we'd fallen in with the right (or is that wrong?) crowd.
Climbing inside a tire from a giant construction vehicle and rolling down a hill. Playing little endurance games with a magneto. I can think of similar things I did while growing up, and while some of the things they've done (most of these shows have run their course and exist only as re-runs) aren't things I want to see, others I honestly find entertaining.