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Jackass The Movie

Johnny Knoxville's mother must be very proud. Her son has made a living out of burping, farting, annoying people and basically putting his own life, and those of his friends, at risk on a weekly television show. Having said that, the aforementioned antics have garnered him millions of fans worldwide and, with his starring role last year in 'MIB2', a burgeoning movie career. Maybe his mother really is proud.

With the TV show, Jackass, Knoxville and his team followed in the tradition of the hidden camera shows, such as Candid Camera and Game For A Laugh. The concept was quite simple, the team film themselves whilst pulling outrageous stunts and/or pranks and usually end up putting themselves in (sometimes) extreme pain. For example - witness Johnny Knoxville himself getting shot in the stomach by a riot police stun gun, in the name of entertainment. Watch how he proudly displays the huge welt left on his skin, for our amusement. Watch as Steve-O (another Jackass regular) precariously traverses a high wire, strung across a lake of alligators, wearing nothing but a pair of briefs - stuffed with raw meat, much to the mirth of his fellow film-makers. Now, while this format may work very well for thirty or so minutes after the pub on a Friday night, the big question is - can it be stretched to a ninety minute feature?

No, it can't. But that's not to say that the film is in any way a failure, because it doesn't set out to be anything other than an extended edition of the show. There's no attempt at a cobbled together narrative to provide a framework for the stunts and gags. At no point do any of the main protagonists try to show us hitherto untapped acting skills - it's simply 'Jackass', but longer. And what that means is a constant barrage of moronic, bizarre and, frankly, life threatening stunts. We get to see Knoxville being knocked out by world super-heavyweight boxing champion, Butterbean. We see Steve-O being tattooed, sitting in a 4WD truck, whilst a manic Henry Rollins takes it off-road. We see the team taking it in turns to use a pair of Y-Fronts, strung from a tree, as the worlds most uncomfortable bungee jump. There are people falling over. There are guys giving each other paper cuts between their fingers and toes. There are fireworks, explosions and car crashes...

And, to be honest, it's a bit too much to take in. Yes, some of the stunts are hilariously funny, some are either to sick or too painful to watch and some just don't really work at all. But being subjected to them one after the other with no commercial breaks for the best part of an hour an a half is simply too much to bear!

If you're a fan of the show, the you'll love every second of this. If not, I would suggest waiting for the video/dvd release. I'd certainly recommend watching it - but at least give yourself the benefit of being able to use a pause button!

6/10

Sean G

Picture from official site click to visit