Jackass Number Two
Directed by Jeff Tremaine
Written by Sean Cliver, Preston Lacy
Rated R: for extremely crude and dangerous stunts, nudity, language and sexual content
Pushing the boundaries of good taste well over the edge, Jackass Number Two will no doubt be viewed on only two different ends of the spectrum for cinema fans: those who think it is infantile, disgusting, and sums up everything that is wrong with the current generation of teenagers and young adults; and those that find it hilarious, disgusting, and pure, unadulterated fun that has no meaning at all except to entertain its core audience. Neither side would be wrong. I find myself leaning more towards the latter, simply because I haven’t laughed this hard at the theater in years.
Fans of the television show and the first movie will love [nearly] every minute of this episodic array of moronic (and painful) stunts and debauchery. Number Two has everything that the fans could ask for: it is funnier, dumber, grosser, and the stunts are more dangerous than anything the Jackass crew has ever done before. The best part of enjoying this movie is that you can’t defend it (especially to film snobs who will scoff at any mention of this as a film of significance); you can only enjoy it for what it’s worth. You have to know what you’re getting yourself into when you watch Jackass, and if you’re prepared you can find the whole experience quite amusing and thoroughly entertaining.
Jackass Number Two is not a film. It isn’t in the same ballpark of what we call cinema (or as Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction said: “It ain’t the same fuckin’ ballpark, it ain’t the same league, it ain’t even the same fuckin’ sport.”), nor should it be looked at like traditional cinema. This is something different, a new kind of comedic movie experience. It could best be described as a documentary as these guys do these stunts for real, but that doesn’t aptly describe it either. Think of this as docutomfoolery.
The main crew is all back in Number Two. There’s ringleader Johnny Knoxville (who hasn’t found a vehicle that can harness his raw comedic abilities yet like this material), Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Ehren McGhehey, Dave England and Jason Acuna (a.k.a. Wee Man). We also see plenty of Bam’s parents Phil and April (these two are good sports indeed!), but sadly no Don Vito, mustard-phobic Chris Raab, or Brandon Dicamillo (except for a small cameo in one scene). Other cameos include brilliant filmmaker Spike Jonze in full-body makeup as a wrinkled old woman who can’t seem to keep her dress on (resulting in copious laughs), oddball filmmaker John Waters (conducting a disgusting “magic trick” in which Wee Man “disappears”) self-titled world’s hardest card thrower Jim Karol (in an amusing bit with Wee Man), Sex and the City’s Willie Garson, and Luke Wilson.
The opening is similar to the first Jackass movie. In place of the crew riding a giant shopping cart down a street at full speed to the sound of Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna” is the crew running down a street at full speed as they are pursued by a pack of pissed-off bulls, all while "An Ecstasy of Gold" by Ennio Morricone (from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) plays in the soundtrack. The first film’s opening was better, but I found Number Two’s opening oddly gratifying simply because the crew didn’t stray far from what they do best. Plus any reference to Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Western masterpiece is a welcome one.
The only time Jackass Number Two falls short is when they try doing things differently. The end credits for example. Instead of the first film’s ending in which the crew were made up to look like old men all while explosions went off all around them there is a lame, big-budgeted, studio-produced dance number that feels incredibly uncomfortable because Knoxville and Co. look so out of place doing it. The first movie’s closing credits were funny, and clever, because the crew mocked all their detractors by killing themselves from their stunts at an old age. Here it just feels wrong when they all begin to dance. Rip Torn has the last word again in the sequel, and he appears even weirder than the last time he signed out the first Jackass movie.
Other off-the-wall stunts and pranks ensue throughout the movie, each one an attempt at outdoing the last for pure stupidity. In the most cringe-worthy sequence, Steve-O literally pierces his mouth with a rather large fishhook that is attached to a large fishing pole held by Chris Pontius (Pontius to camera: “I can’t believe I’m fishing with Steve-O as my bait!” We can’t believe it either). As if watching a man stab his mouth with a hook isn’t bad enough, Steve-O then becomes human bait as he jumps in the ocean where several sharks are hanging around. Not to be outdone by his cohorts, we later witness Pontius drink actual horse semen—though the act is concealed with a black ‘censored’ box. This is despicable, but hilarious, as Pontius spouts the second funniest line in the film after drinking said horse sperm: “I’m really disappointed in myself.”
The funniest line, and perhaps the best prank ever put on film, come at the end of the Number Two. I won’t give too much away, but the suffice to say that it involves on of the crewmembers dressing up as a would-be terrorist strapped full of fake dynamite in a cab en route to the airport. What he doesn’t know is what makes the skit so damn hilarious. For one, his fake beard is made up of pubic hair donated by the rest of the cast. And two, the cab diver happens to be Broken Lizard’s own Jay Chandrasekhar brought on in secret by the Jackass boys. The most memorable line comes at the end of sequence, and it resonates strongly because of Chandrasekhar’s deadpan delivery: “Are you an actor?” “Come on.”
Every crewmember does their part to make the movie as funny and vile as can be. These guys will do anything for a laugh. Either you find that pathetic or hilarious, there is no in-between. Ryan Dunn sums it up perfectly when asked [by April Margera] why he did something outrageous: “because it was funny.”
HDFEST grading scale
-Jackass Number Two-
Story non-existent
Acting non-existent
(these guys do this stuff for real)
Visuals B
(on a purely visceral, it’s so-bad-I-have-to-look level)
Originality B+
(only because the Jackass crew manage to somehow top themselves here)
Enjoyability A
(in a purely juvenile way, and as long as you know what you’re getting into)
Overall Grade B
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