"hi, i'm johnny knoxville! welcome to jackass!"
the whole concept behind that opening line alone has an element of hilarity. it's almost a formal invitation to some of the most nonsensical crap you will ever witness.
so here we are, jackass 3d, the third film installment, possibly capping off 10 years of antics, a tv show, numerous spin offs, cky, don't try this at home, 2.5, the list goes on and on. i still remember where i was the first time i saw the first movie, and i remember the night number 2 came out and who i was with. i remember sitting in one of the front rows of the theater, and i remember not being able to stop laughing for the majority of the movie. it truly was one of the funniest things i had ever seen.
so as i combed the internet for details of jackass 3 from the moment it was confirmed, i couldn't help but hold the group to outrageously high expectations. sure, i wasn't too happy about the jackassworld website shutting down, and i was definitely disappointed about the 3d announcement because i believed the whole concept of 3d was gimmicky; but nevertheless, i was excited. and as i pounded my last miller high life before walking into the theater with my 3d glasses on, i was excited.
but, hmm...
the absolute most epic thing the jackass guys had ever done came to the tune of carl orff's "o fortuna" with epic smoke machines, slow motion, and a giant shopping cart. number 2 folllowed it up as best as it could with "the ecstasy of gold," so, now, with the prospect of 3d, what amazing intro was up next?
let down.
where was it? yeah, it was funny, but it bucked tradition and i didn't care for the results. it just seemed way too "yeah, we're using 3d now, so we're gonna showcase the hell out of it, disregarding the artistic integrity that came with the first 2 intros." whatever, i still laughed.
the next hour and a half had me bursting with mixed feelings. was this movie good? oh absolutely. i laughed my ass off numerous times. but was it a nonstop laugh like number 2? not so much. there were times where they seemed to be trying too hard to show growth. there were cameos that seemed forced, with the nitro circus guys, the dudesons, and all the other dickhouse productions. it just seemed unnecessary. again, very "look how far we've come."
there were also times where it was the exact opposite. while the first two movies were chocked full of bits that were obviously written and edited to be movie quality, there were some bits that seemed to call back to the days of the tv show. back when bits would be full of people just dicking around in front of a camera till, in the words of knoxville "i think we got it." now don't get me wrong, some of these bits were hilarious. the jet engine bit was a perfect example. i thought it was going to suck based off of the preview, but they made it hilarious. still, something just seemed out of place about it in a major motion picture.
but still, there were so many pros to this movie. some of the slow motion footage was incredible. it didn't necessarily induce gut-wrenching laughter, but was visually hilarious. some of the cameos that went unnoticed were great, with eric koston and tony hawk sneaking on screen for a bit, eddie barbanell, and of course, my personal favorites, the guys from weezer.
a popular concept for this movie was taking old bits and making them "better." sometimes it worked wonders, other times, they could have done so much more. one of my all time favorite bits was ryan dunn's "snake river launch" but the "snake river redemption" just didn't seem to live up to the name. yeah, he busted his ass, but part of what was so good about the original bit were all the antics surrounding the actual jump. while on the topic of that bit, by the way, where the hell was brandon dicamillo? not a single cameo. but i digress, one of the best bits of the movie, and one of the few points where 3d really shined, was the call back to the poo cocktail. absolutely hilarious and absolutely disgusting, perfect jackass combo. and it was great to see steve-o get the closing bit. one of the best parts of the movie, at least for me, was seeing how healthy he looked.
all in all, the movie definitely struck gold a few times. all the april and phil bits were spectacular. phil's total lack of caring has made him grow ever more hilarious to me. dave england is still my favorite cast member and pontius continues to offer hilarious one-liners. bam margera having one of the funniest bits of the movie was a shocker, although it was completely at his expense and to the pleasure of a bunch of snakes. but still, i kept thinking to myself at different parts in the movie "come on, get better!" i was just expecting an out-doing of jackass number 2, and what i got was simply another out-doing of jackass number 1. redoing the tooth pull with danger ehren was unnecessary considering the footage already exists with don vito. and i don't really know how much 3d added to most of the movie, some shots looked great, others didn't really do much for me.
i can't talk too much shit on this movie cause it really was hilarious, it just wasn't another step up collectively. it definitely had it's faults and let-downs because of what the first 2 movies brought to the table, but there were absolutely some great new things to add to the mix. with the weezer track and the call-back to the early days in the credits, i can't help but think that this will be the last horah from a motion picture standpoint (although 3.5 has been confirmed). and i'm fine with that. it's been a great 10 years of laughter. i've enjoyed (almost) every minute of it.
currently listening to: hurley, my dinosaur life, brad paisley
currently reading: jurassic park
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