Does a fancy screening at MoMA and a think piece in The New York Times change anything? Let's hope not: Jackass has always been---and, on the evidence of this often riotous new entry, remains---a noncerebral pleasure. You give in to the tears of hilarity that come from watching men (it's never women) behaving extremely badly and somehow enjoying themselves. There's no story to follow, no grand narrative or theme. The only acquired taste is one for watching the pain of others, and, via Johnny Knoxville's hyena laugh, seeing it brushed aside.
Does a fancy screening at MoMA and a think piece in The New York Times change anything? Let's hope not: Jackass has always been---and, on the evidence of this often riotous new entry, remains---a noncerebral pleasure. You give in to the tears of hilarity that come from watching men (it's never women) behaving extremely badly and somehow enjoying themselves. There's no story to follow, no grand narrative or theme. The only acquired taste is one for watching the pain of others, and, via Johnny Knoxville's hyena laugh, seeing it brushed aside.
Jackass 3D, in the main, follows the tried-and-true formula: Animals, like a strangely compelling charging ram, are pissed off. The elderly are mocked via some expert makeup and the participation of director Spike Jonze, a longtime collaborator. (Here, the prematurely aged Knoxville plows through a pane of glass while trying out a scooter with his "grandson.") Excrement is, well, excreted---this time in a poop volcano with one fecund cast member positioned underneath the diorama. Infantile? You betcha. Most nauseatingly, an obese friend's sweat is collected in a cup and tasted.
For fans, all of this is good news. So why the mixed rating? The 3-D effects, so promising on paper, don't really add much---and, worse, there's a overreliance on slow-motion, which kills the fun. (The film's best gag, a fully surreal one, is a huge Styrofoam hand that flies from out of nowhere and slaps the unsuspecting; no slo-mo needed.) Ten years have aged the crew terribly; the spectacle of close-knit survivors diving uneasily into the fray should have been enough. Next time, less money.
Watch the trailer