Jackass: Number Two (R, 2006)

JACKASS: NUMBER TWO opens with a running-with-the-bulls sequence that sends the movie's stars -- and the animals -- crashing through a suburban set's fake walls and windows. On one hand, the stunt compares the annual Pamplona spectacle and the Jackass spectacle, asking viewers to see the likeness between vaunted cultural traditions and this (debatable) "art" form. It also makes a comparison between the arts of movies and of violent stunts. Rendered in grandiose slow motion, the sequence parodies the way movies are supposed to work: You introduce your stars and the concept, and then you put them through some challenges, leading to education or evolution. In Jackass, everyone knows going in that the stunts are stupid and the effects painful. And so, the stars and the concept themselves become the challenges, and transformation and resolution are about as likely as anyone in the cast escaping without a hit to the crotch. Or so it seems. The trick of Jackass is that it's wholly conventional. For all the seeming outrageousness of the premise -- don't try these stunts at home, expect to be offended, you're watching professionals -- Number Two uses familiar, simple structure. The boys indulge in pain and pleasure, damaging themselves and each other because they can. By the time the finale rolls around -- a song and dance extravaganza complete with high-kicking girls, tuxedo T-shirts, and an homage to Buster Keaton -- viewers feel as exhausted as the players look, and as unsatisfied. The end is never the end. That said, the musical number points directly at the motto of the Jackass crew: This is the time of your life to have fun and do whatever makes you laugh. The lyrics are punctuated by over-the-top stunts in the background, pointing out the obvious and proactively acknowledging the guys' insanity before critics do.

While you might wonder at the longevity of Johnny Knoxville's career or the continuing participation of Bam Margera's parents, the punk-rock appeal of Jackass is plain: Boys everywhere are supposedly thrilled by the guys' excess and the offense and their effort to undermine structure and upset adults ... and girls. It's no accident that the Jackass universe is male (save for the finale dancers, April Margera, Spike Jonze in drag, and a performer brought in by John Waters, Number Two is entirely populated by males).

 

The cast members' interest in their penises and bottoms is patently adolescent (their refusal to grow up constitutes much of the Jackass appeal). While it's frequently been termed homoerotic or even "gay," such interest here leads into a strangely broader set of observations about fear and threats as a cultural norm. Certainly, the guys offer up some familiar-seeming pranks that restate their childish delight in all things "doody." They repeatedly inflict injury on exposed bottoms, a repetition that makes the ostensible "transgression" quite ho-hum.

Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Jeff Tremaine
Cast: Bam Margera, Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 95 minutes
Theatrical release: September 22, 2006
DVD release: December 26, 2006
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: for extremely crude and dangerous stunts throughout, sexual content, nudity and language.