Movie Review: Jackass: Number Two

by Chad Jones

It’s ‘Revenge of the Jackasses’ in jackass number two, a ninety-five-minute melee of self-destruction and regurgitation that both disgusts and delights.

Seems like Johnny Knoxville and the rest of his human crash dummy buddies just couldn’t stay away from the big-screen world of nut-checks and face-plants. And who can blame them? Should we have expected these thirty-something thirteen-year-olds to have left behind the beer-hazed lime-light provided by MTV Films in order to pursue bachelor’s degrees in art history? Did we expect them to settle down in some anonymous suburb somewhere and become the chairmen of their children’s’ PTA?

Luckily, Jackass number two is what you would expect . . . if you know what to expect. Unfortunately, a handful of reviews out there are written by ‘actual’ movie critics who fail to comprehend the very simplistic glory that is Jackass.

Admittedly, it’s hard to review this film mostly because it’s not a real film (there’s no acting, no classic cinematography, and no special effects), but that’s still no reason trash it. Though it lacks in mise-en-scene, it is still a creative and entertaining series of bare asses, crapping, and concussions.

Anyone unfamiliar with the Jackass crew—whose members, aside from Knoxville, include but are not limited to: professional skater Bam Margera, Barnum & Bailey Clown College graduate Steven “Steve-O” Glover, writer and skateboarder Chris Pontius, and former truck-driver Preston Lacy—will probably not understand the brain-dead genius behind the movie.

Maybe critics aren’t clear on the history of jackassery. Maybe they didn’t watch the Jackass television series when it premiered in 2000, peaked in 2002, and was translated into its first full-length film at the end of that year. Or maybe they just don’t and didn’t find anything funny in a show that ran for three full seasons solely on the physical and fecal side of life.

But Jackass is funny. It takes wit, believe it or not, to come up with stunt after stunt for as long as they have. And to actually have the guts to perform them is another. Maybe the boys have relied a little too much on poop and vomit in this sequel, but that is ‘logically’ the only venue left to pioneer from a group of unlicensed “professionals” whose idea of fun is playing teeter-totter in a bull pen.

Of course, you don’t have to know anything about these guys or their history in order to understand that “man + fall down = funny,” but it does help if you’ve grown accustomed to the nauseating stupidity that is Jackass and if you’ve come to love their ugly grins and sometimes girlish giggles.

It seems most reviewers haven’t. Maybe they were trying to eat during the flick (big mistake) and ruined their outfits, or maybe they were obligated to review the film for their respective writing positions.

But the truth is that listening to someone review a film because they had to is like listening to your mother’s opinion on a Ying Yang twins concert. She’ll undoubtedly miss the point.

Anyway, here’s a little Q&A to close things up:

Q. And what’s the difference between the first Jackass flick and jackass number two (no punctuation required)?

A. Forgive the cliché, but the guys have outdone themselves. Rampaging yaks, live anacondas, bungee jumps, old-man nuts, rocket-powered wheel chairs, and ‘man-fishing’ in the shark-infested Gulf of Mexico are a few of the things you’ll see.

On a final note, if you’ve got a weak stomach, try to ride it out; there’s a choreographed dance number at the end. That’s right, a dance number.

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