Jackass: The Movie

"OK, Johnny, this one's gonna be a little more powerful than the others."
"Why? Is it a bigger rocket?"
"No, there are just more of them...."

The opening credits begin to roll, Carl Orff's 'O Fortuna' swells in the background, we're greeted with a misty highway covered in a thick blanket of fog. And then - in slow motion - Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera and the rest of the Jackass team emerge from the mist in a somewhat unusual mode of transportation, and you know there and then what you're in for.

Cue an hour and twenty minutes (which is quite long enough, believe me) of typically puerile and grotesque slapstick, in which the boys engage in ridiculous (not to mention highly dangerous) sado-masochistic stunts that would put even the most outrageous fraternity initiation to shame. Ranging from the surreal (running round Japan in panda costumes, in a similar manner to Dom Joly) through disgusting (Knoxville sheds his load in a hardware store's display toilet, complete with amplified sound) to the downright stupid (shooting fireworks from a sensitive part of the anatomy), Jackass expands upon its TV format by dispensing with the bleeps that cover the inevitable four-letter words, and including more blood and more vomiting.

It's unpleasant, it's unsettling and - frankly - it's amazing that any of them are still alive. And it also happens to be very funny. Whether this is due to an inherent relief on the part of the viewer that somebody else is going through the pain instead of us, or the fact that Jackass appeals to a more instinctive and primitive part of the consciousness is never clear. Perhaps, at the end of the day, we laugh because Knoxville and company find it such a blast - regardless of what they're doing, the enjoyment factor is always there, and I suppose that we're grateful they're willing to risk life and limb in order to entertain people. It's also evident that this is more than martyrdom, and for all the pain they receive, they still get a kick out of it - I can't think of any other reason to dangle upside-down, practically naked, over a pool of hungry alligators.

Regular viewers will take delight in the cusomary appearances from Bam's parents, the long-suffering Phil and April - the former is once more woken up in the small hours when he has to get up early for work, while the team resort to drastic tactics in order to get April to swear. That these two put up with as much as they do is testament to their almost saint-like patience: it's a miracle that they haven't disowned Bam by now. Public reaction to the team's outrageous set of stunts ranges from apathy (a disinterested chef) to concern (the Good Samaritans who help them clear up) to genuine anger (the chaps on the golf course, but that would be telling)

Let's face it - if you're not a fan of the show, this is not going to convert you. You either love Jackass or hate it - and it's not even a question of 'getting' it, it's merely whether or not you find paper cuts and department store boxing matches amusing. But if you're able to sit through eighty minutes of bumps, scrapes, cuts, explosions and general anarchy without wanting to throw up, you may just find this as entertaining, diverting and downright fun as I did. Which, at the end of the day, is Jackass's entire raison d'etre.

(Friday, 7th March 2003)