Film review: Jackass 3D

BY CHRIS SCHULZ

They're known for pulling stunts that would make the toughest men cry, but even the guys behind the collective known as Jackass have limits.

Jackass 3D - the third film to emerge from the hit MTV TV show that first aired 10 years ago - proves Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera and co are starting to grow weary of their painful shenanigans.

"I'm Steve-O ... Why oh why do I have to be Steve-O?" queries the newly sober stuntman as he introduces a segment called Teaball, in which he takes a rather heavy blow to the genitals - where else? - before collapsing in agony.

There's the hilarious Pin the Tail on the Donkey skit, in which a blindfolded and quaking Ehren McGhehey inches his way up behind a donkey with a toy tail, only to take repeated kicks to his groin.

He bows out after just three attempts, writhing on the ground and whimpering, "I'm not doing that anymore".

And there's a tellingly sober segment called the Snake Pit, which sees Margera lured into an unescapable pit of snakes - one of his greatest fears. The tears and the tantrum that follow are as real as the giant python writhing around beneath him.

You know what to expect from Jackass, but this time it's all delivered in 3D, which they make full use of - if you call public urination, copious amounts of vomit, and - in one nearly unwatchable scene - excreting on model train stations utilising the new movie technology to its fullest.

It's unlikely you'll find James Cameron nodding in approval at this.

So the childlike glee has been replaced by a weary reluctance, but it's still business as usual for Jackass. Body parts are bashed, bruised, broken and brutalised in ways in which they shouldn't, as the rest of the team laugh hysterically in the background.

Sure, it's infantile, puerile and vulgar. Guys, don't take your mum, or your girlfriend, because they'll be dry heaving at Steve'O's vile Sweat Shake, and walking out of the theatre for the climactic Portaloo Bungy, a daring stunt which is wrong on so many levels.

Part of the joy of Jackass is watching these guys do things you'd never want to do, or even think of doing, as they mess themselves up in increasingly bizarre ways. In this respect, Jackass 3D is very, very funny.

But the last laugh is on us. The film has made so much money in America that three sequels have reportedly been commissioned, meaning the nine-strong team are laughing all the way to the bank.

As long as they're up for them, that is.

Jackass 3D
Director: Jeff Tremaine
Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Jason Acuña, Ryan Dunn, Preston Lacy, Dave England, Ehren McGhehey
Time: 95 minutes
Rating: R16
Trailer: Flicks.co.nz

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