Jackass Number Two – Review

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Image courtesy of www.impawards.com

Director :

Jeff Tremaine

Cast :

Johnny Knoxville……….Himself
Bam Margera……….Himself
Steve-O……….Himself
Chris Pontius……….Himself
Jason Acuña……….Wee Man

Jackass Number Two is a vile, disgusting, nasty, tasteless film that lowers the bar even further than the original television series and the previous Jackass film did. Compared with nearly every other comedy that has been released in the last three years, Jackass Number Two is the sort of film that finds itself so obsessed with crude humor and bodily functions that it makes Beavis & Butt-Head look like high-brow, intellectual humor from England. It’s a film that panders to the lowest common denominator so often and for so long that the term “bottom of the barrel” has been drug further down.

Jackass Number Two is also an incredibly funny film from start to finish, a gut-wrenchingly good comedy that appeals to the thirteen year old in everyone.

With no real narrative or plot structure, Jackass Number Two is a series of skits and pranks by a group of gentleman made famous for them. Led by Johnny Knoxville, the crew engages in a number of highly dangerous and crude antics designed to appeal to the baser instincts of the human psyche. From physical humor involving stuntwork (including the crew’s reactions to being hit with various objects) as well as several relatively tasteless skits, the film’s premise is to merely entertain with as many rapid fire setups and situations as possible.

It’s not exactly anything that hasn’t been done before by the crew, as the film is the exact same concept as the TV series as well as Jackass: The Movie. They are not doing anything that hasn’t been done before, of course, but they are doing it to a much stronger degree. The stunts and pranks in the film are not inventive but they do raise the bar from previous work by kicking everything up a notch. This isn’t a retread of the first film or the television series; it’s a genuine attempt at trying to do something above and beyond what they’ve already accomplished.

And it’s also incredibly funny in the most profane and juvenile way possible. Every single skit, from beginning to end, is even more depraved and indecent than the one that precedes it. Culminating with maybe the funniest scene of any movie in 2006 (featuring a glued on beard of questionable origin, a spoof of terrorism and Jay Chandrasekhar as a cab driver in one scene), the film’s opening scene and final credits are head-shaking in both their humor as well as their depravity.

The film’s only drawback, outside of the sheer amount of humor that falls flat due to the rapid fire nature of the film, is that the newness and originality of this type of film have disappeared in the last couple years. With The Dudesons debuting on Spike TV, as well as the plethora of television shows featuring former members of the television show, people doing crazy stunts and wild pranks has become something relatively ordinary. There isn’t anything new or innovative to do beyond what they’ve already done. It isn’t passé to hit each other in the groin with various objects just yet, but it isn’t unique and original to do it anymore.