Jackass: The Movie

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Jackass: The Movie
Directed by Jeff Tremaine
Produced by Sean Cliver
Dimitry Elyashkevich
Spike Jonze
Written by Jeff Tremaine
Spike Jonze
Johnny Knoxville
Starring Johnny Knoxville
Bam Margera
Chris Pontius
Steve-O
Ryan Dunn
Dave England
Jason "Wee Man" Acuña
Preston Lacy
Ehren McGhehey
Lauren Smith
Music by Nicole Tocantins
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
MTV Films
Release date(s) October 25, 2002
Running time 86 mins.
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Budget $5 million [1]
Preceded by Jackass
Followed by Jackass Number Two
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Jackass: The Movie, is an American film directed by Jeff Tremaine and was released on October 25, 2002 with the tagline "Do not attempt this at home." It is a riskier continuation of the stunts and pranks by the various characters of the MTV television series Jackass, which had completed its series run by this time. The film was produced by MTV Films and released by Paramount Pictures.

The show features all of the original Jackass cast, including Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Dave England, Bam Margera, Preston Lacy, Ryan Dunn, Ehren McGhehey, and Jason "Wee Man" Acuña. Brandon DiCamillo and Raab Himself also appear but not as frequently as in the show.

Other regular Jackass personalities who made appearances include Rake Yohn, Manny Puig, Phil Margera, April Margera . In addition, Rip Taylor, Henry Rollins, Spike Jonze, boxing star Butterbean, Mat Hoffman, and Tony Hawk make cameo appearances.

Contents

Uncensored version of the TV show

Because of the nature of the film, everyone involved knew they could get away with doing stunts that would never get past television network censors. To that end, they included skits that involved profanity (such as April Says Fuck, in which Bam Margera's mother April screams after seeing an alligator in her kitchen), extreme stunts (such as Rocket Skates, which was filmed for the television show but wasn't allowed to air due to the network censors), and extremely crude humor (such as Butt X-Ray, which involves inserting a toy car wrapped in a condom into Ryan Dunn's rectum and getting X-rays of the car inside his anus, or Dave England defecating in a display toilet in a plumbing store showroom).

"We just killed Johnny Knoxville"

Because of the extreme nature of some of the stunts, as well as unforeseen accidents, the possibility of serious injury or death was always present. The first stunt of the movie outside of the opening credits, Rent-A-Car Crash-Up Derby, clearly shows how dangerous these stunts could be. In the skit, Johnny dresses in a long coat and dark glasses and rents a car, which he then has outfitted to be used in a demolition derby. Towards the end, one of the other participating cars backs into the hood of Johnny's Ford Contour and cracks the windshield with the tire. As director Jeff Tremaine explained on the commentary track of the movie, this was the first time (though not the last) that he thought, "Wow, we just killed Johnny Knoxville." Other skits, such as Golf Cart Antics, ended with an accident that could have resulted in the death of a performer (in this case again, Johnny was affected — suffering from a concussion and nearly breaking his neck as the result of a flipped golf cart).

The "Failed Ending"

In the ending of the film, Johnny Knoxville is launched from a catapult into a pond, where Rip Taylor sits in a boat, announcing that "this is the end." This is followed with the credits being shown over outtakes from the movie. The original ending for the movie was supposed to be a Rube Goldberg-type contraption, with each of the cast members performing a stunt that either has something to do with what they did on the show (for example, the first stunt would have Preston as 'The Human Wrecking Ball', knocking him into a Port-A-Potty), or simply for a sight gag (such as Ehren being knocked over in the Port-A-Potty and landing on a bed of toilet paper rolls), ending with Johnny being launched off the catapult next to Rip Taylor. However, as the entire contraption didn't work together the way they wanted it to, the producers of the movie decided to try filming an alternate ending, which is how they came to film the "Son Of Jackass" skit. The Son Of Jackass skit involves dressing all the performers in 'old man' clothing and having them run around exploding buildings and sheds, with only Steve-O surviving to proclaim "Yeah, dude." Some bits of the failed ending were incorporated into the end credits montage, like the penis skateboarder and the giant Plinko machine. Also, stunt double John Henry was supposed to place his head into an alligator's mouth as the movie ended. The entire skit was included on the dvd release in the deleted scenes section.

Cut out

Because of the sensitive nature of some of the stunts, as well as the possibility of legal action, some parts of the movie had to be edited out. One example of this is in the Riot Control Test skit. In this skit, Johnny Knoxville puts on a chest protector and is shot at with a beanbag projectile from a pump-action shotgun.

The first time Knoxville is shot at, the shot goes wide, which makes him extremely nervous. The scene was later edited out as, while the "Jackass" crew could waive civil liability, they could not waive criminal liability. Hence should Johnny or any cast member have been killed or grievously injured as a result of a stunt, the producers of the movie could possibly be held liable on the grounds of negligent or reckless homicide or battery. While Knoxville and other Jackass participants are clearly aware of the risks involved in their stunts, the threat of criminal liability was significant enough that the Los Angeles law firm Irell & Manella advised cutting out segments which could potentially be used as evidence in such a case.

In addition, the final skit in the movie called "Butt X-Ray" was edited to remove the insertion of the toy car into Ryan Dunn's anus, the reason being that displaying the insertion might have been considered pornographic or otherwise highly objectionable by the MPAA, and could have earned the film an NC-17 rating, severely limiting its distribution.

The Japanese version

Since some scenes of the movie were shot in Tokyo, Japan, a special edited version was made and screened for Japanese audiences. Some bits were edited out for legal reasons (especially scenes showing people's faces without their consent); however, they were placed back in for the special DVD version.

A reason for filming extensively in Japan is that laws requiring non-consenting participants to have their faces censored do not apply in Japan.[2]

Box office performance

The film had a budget of US$5 million[1] and was the #1 movie at the U.S. box office when it opened, grossing $22.7 million in 2,509 theaters.[1] The film went on to gross $64.2 million in the United States and $15.2 million in other countries, for a worldwide gross of $79.4 million.[3]

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. As of September 2007 on the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, 49% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 83 reviews, and among the "cream of the crop" reviews, 31% were favorable.[4] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 42 out of 100, based on 14 reviews.[5]

New York Post film critic Lou Lumenick said "[this] plotless collection of moronic stunts is by far the worst movie of the year."[6] Ethan Alter of Film Journal International admitted to having never seen an episode the TV show, said he couldn't say he enjoyed watching it, and said "it would be easy for me to hold Jackass: The Movie up as a leading example of the decline of Western civilization." Alter said he was disturbed by "the film's, and by extension the audience's, cavalier attitude towards pain." Alter went on to say the film "deliberately defies any and all cinematic conventions", "there's no story or characters to analyze", and said "simply put, there's no movie to review here, just a series of blackout scenes you're either going to find supremely funny or incredibly idiotic." Ethan Alter also said the film "may be the most experimental feature ever released by a major Hollywood studio" and also that it "appears to be hailing the birth of a new reality genre: Call it America's Most Sadistic Home-Videos."[7] Chicago Tribune movie reporter Mark Caro gave the film 1 star out of 4 and called it "willful idiocy for idiocy's sake." Caro also said "there's one stunt that I bet none of these moronic daredevils would tackle: trying to say something intelligent about Jackass: The Movie." Mark Caro also remarked, "Maybe the best way to look at Jackass: The Movie is as a piece of conceptual art. How far and low will these guys go? What's the pinnacle of pointlessness?" then concluded "I don't like conceptual art."[8] Jeff Vice of the Deseret Morning News gave the film 1 1/2 stars and said the 80 minute runtime was too much. Vice said the movie should have been rated NC-17 and said that many people will find the film to be "possibly the most irresponsible picture ever released by a major film studio."[9] A.O. Scott of The New York Times said the film "is essentially an extended episode of the popular Jackass MTV series" and that "some of the undertakings, amateurishly recorded on video, are like demented science experiments." Scott said "Jackass the Movie is like a documentary version of Fight Club, shorn of social insight, intellectual pretension and cinematic interest" and also remarked, "Occasionally, there is a flicker of Candid Camera-style conceptual inventiveness, especially in the bits filmed in Japan."[10] Rene Rodriguez of The Miami Herald gave the film 2 1/2 stars out of 4 and said "Johnny Knoxville and his merry band of anarchists ran around performing the sort of suicidal stunts parental warnings were invented for" and "the gang also likes to train their sights on the unsuspecting public, Candid Camera style." Rodriguez also said "It is not at all sexist to suggest most women will find Jackass: The Movie as further evidence they are the more intelligent sex" and "As much as I laughed throughout the movie, I cannot mount a cogent defense of the film as entertainment, or even performance art, although the movie does leave you marveling at these guys' superhuman capacity to withstand pain (and their even stranger eagerness to suffer it)."[11]

LA Weekly film critic Paul Malcolm listed Jackass: The Movie as one of the 10 best films of 2002 and also called it the most underrated film of 2002.[12] On the television show Ebert & Roeper, Richard Roeper called it the "feel-sick movie of the year" and said the film is "a disgusting, repulsive, grotesque spectacle, but it's also hilarious and provocative."[13] Pete Vonder Haar of Film Threat said the results of "essentially transplanting the show to the big screen" are "incredibly funny and often too disgusting for words." Vonder Haar said "the masochists of Jackass aren't hurting anyone but themselves", "no one is exploiting these guys", and "Knoxville and Co. joyfully sacrifice their bodies for our amusement, and it works." Vonder Haar also remarked "the end result is a collection of some of the best physical comedy since Moe first smacked Curly on the head" and called it "one of the funniest films I've seen all year."[14] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B" and said the film "provokes a suspense halfway between comedy and horror. I'm not sure if I enjoyed myself, exactly, but I could hardly wait to see what I'd be appalled by next." Gleiberman also said "In the movie version of the show that might just as well have been called America's Funniest Frat-House Hazing Rituals, the boys engage in infantile Candid Camera grossouts...but mostly, the happy masochistic stunts just keep coming", and also remarked, "it's difficult to reprimand Johnny Knoxville and his crew of merry sick pranksters when their principal pastime consists of dreaming up elaborate new ways to punish themselves."[15] Ed Halter of The Village Voice said "their feature debut plays like a longer episode of the show" and said "it's funny, as the old saying goes, because it's true." Halter wrote "the structure is ruthlessly efficient: no plot, no characters, no sets, and no downtime—just one sight-gag right after another."[16] Kimberly Jones of The Austin Chronicle gave the film 3 stars and said the film is the "feature-length rendering of jackass the MTV show, meaning no plot, no script, just wall-to-wall idiocy." Jones said "It's silly, often stomach-churning, but also awfully addictive, inspiring the same kind of vicarious adrenaline rush as Fight Club, with its 'I bleed, therefore I am'; he-man mentality." Jones also remarked, "Consisting of a steady clip of barely minutes-long gags...this piece of outré performance art defies typical movie conventions...but that shouldn't surprise, or even disappoint, anyone lining up for a ticket." Jones wrote "the query 'can I have one for jackass the movie please?' sort of implies you know what you're getting yourself into" and "all told, either you get it or you don't."[17]

Critics disagreed on how to categorize the film. Scott Foundas of Variety referred to Jackass: The Movie as the first reality film when reviewing The Real Cancun in April 2003.[18] In a film critic roundup of 2002 films in The Village Voice, film critic Armond White said "Best Documentary: Jackass, far and away."[19] Ed Halter of The Village Voice wrote, "MTV would surely love to claim Jackass as a mutant by-product of its Real World franchise, but its roots lie elsewhere", saying "their self-destructive brand of docu-comedy emerged as a bizarrely elaborate version of a skateboard-video mainstay: slam sections..."[16] Jennie Punter of The Globe and Mail said the film "belongs in the too-hot-for-TV direct-to-video/DVD category".[20]

The sequels

Main article: Jackass: Number Two

Jackass: The Movie was filmed with a modest budget of approximately $5 million, but earned more than $22 million during its opening weekend, effectively managing to secure the top spot at the box office for its debut. It eventually grossed more than $64 million in North America alone.

As a result, although the cast and crew said many times that a sequel to Jackass: the Movie would never be made, Paramount Pictures filmed a sequel to the movie. The sequel titled Jackass Number Two was released on September 22, 2006.

According to Rip Taylor, the sequel was to be called "Son of Jackass." This was a joke, of course, but Knoxville replied, "To answer all the questions from the first film?"

Another Jackass movie will be released sometime around 2008, with the tentative title Jackass 3

"Unrated" DVD release

The DVD cover for Jackass: The Movie (Unrated Edition)
The DVD cover for Jackass: The Movie (Unrated Edition)

To go with the release of Jackass: Number Two, Paramount Pictures released an "unrated" version of the first movie on DVD on September 5, 2006. The DVD includes the following:

  • Four minutes of "wild and raunchy" extended scenes
  • Additional footage too hot for MTV (The Vomelete, Pee Pee Wake Up, Stilt Poop and much more)
  • Inside look at the sequel Jackass: Number Two
  • Free movie ticket to Jackass: Number Two
  • Note: The aforementioned content is not shown in the special edition VHS; but the extra content from the special edition VHS will be in the unrated DVD as well.

References

  1. ^ a b c Jackass: The Movie (2002) - Weekend Box Office. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  2. ^ Jackass: The Movie (2002) - Trivia
  3. ^ Jackass: The Movie (2002). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  4. ^ Jackass: The Movie - Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  5. ^ Jackass: The Movie (2002): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  6. ^ Lou Lumenick (2002-10-25). THE PLOT SICKENS. New York Post. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  7. ^ Ethan Alter. JACKASS: THE MOVIE. Film Journal International. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  8. ^ Mark Caro. Movie review, 'Jackass: the Movie'. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  9. ^ Jeff Vice (2002-10-25). jackass: the movie. Deseret Morning News. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  10. ^ A.O. Scott (2002-10-26). It Has a Misleading Title, But Not for the First Word. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  11. ^ Rene Rodriguez (2002-10-28). 'Jackass: The Movie' lives up to its name -- and then some. The Miami Herald. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  12. ^ THE YEAR IN FILM. LA Weekly (2002-12-25). Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  13. ^ Richard Roeper (2002-10-25). Ebert and Roeper. Ebert & Roeper. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  14. ^ Pete Vonder Haar (2002-10-30). JACKASS: THE MOVIE. Film Threat. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  15. ^ Owen Gleiberman (2002-10-25). Jackass the Movie. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  16. ^ a b Ed Halter (2002-10-28). Hard Knoxville. The Village Voice. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  17. ^ Kimberly Jones (2002-11-01). jackass the movie. The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  18. ^ Scott Foundas (2003-04-20). The Real Cancun Review - Variety.com. Variety. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  19. ^ Take 4: Everything Is Illuminated - The Critics Speak. Village Voice (2003-01-01—7). Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  20. ^ Jennie Punter - Rotten Tomatoes. Quotes by Jennie Punter, via Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.

External links

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Jackass
Main Cast
Supporting Cast
Crew
Television shows
Films
Jackass: The Movie | Jackass Number Two
Miscellaneous