Review
Jackass 2 is positively crude
September 28, 2006
What does it say about our society when the No. 1 movie in America, which has grossed over $25 million already, is about dick, fart and pain jokes?
I guess that just makes me a jackass too, because I could not have gotten enough of it.
It is one of the only movies you can go into, hoot and holler, and not feel overly loud. If “Jackass 2” had lasted another two hours, I wouldn’t have even cared; I could watch that crap all day long. I take that back - I’d watch it all day long if I could be spared the image of Preston Lacy and Wee Man’s balls. (Oh yeah, they show ‘em).
There is nothing different about this film than the TV show or even the first movie, except for a bigger budget funded by MTV. It consists of dozens of sketches with Bam Margera, Johnny Knoxville, and the rest of the crew pushing their bodies to the extreme just for the sake of laughs and beer.
The “Jackass” TV show spawned many different spin-offs. Margera does a show that centers on his family. Ryan Dunn helps kids trash their friends’ houses. Chris Pontius and Steve-O crisscross the globe looking for exotic animals to harass. Each of these shows brings a specialty to this film, but they kick it up a notch for the R-rated crowd.
I think the grossest skit that I could only watch through the fingers over my eyes was with Steve-O and the guys in India. They went to a leech healer and put one of those little suckers (I shouldn’t say little—it was about 4 inches long) on his eye ball. Another animal skit involved Pontius actually drinking horse sperm that they ‘helped milk.’ It was so wrong that they actually had a black bar over his face that said ‘censored.’
Not only is “Jackass” loved by the general masses, but celebrities as well. Luke Wilson and John Waters make short appearances. Three 6 Mafia pays Dave England $200 to eat horse shit. Tony Hawk and Matt Hoffman, the skating and BMX stars, always seem to show up on set just to skate around while getting things thrown at them.
But we can’t forget that these boys are human; they are not indestructible. Knoxville almost died when a rocket that he was riding exploded out the side, although he tried it again. And when they called a snake handler with a king cobra to scare Margera, his eyes filled with tears in horror.
It’s really nice to see a movie every once in a while that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I could just geek out during the movie because I feel like I’ve grown up with these guys since eighth grade (well, I grew up—they might not have). Every two minutes I was thrown back in my seat, shaking my head in disgust but unable to look away. You really get what you pay to see in “Jackass 2,” even if it is just a beard made out of pube shavings.
4/5 stars
Jenna Lee is a student at UW-River Falls.