If Jackass 3D was a bit too scatological for your tastes and you wish they’d get back to just launching one another off ramps or random crotch shots then you’ll find Jackass 3.5 much more satisfying. One of the series’ greatest drawbacks is that a Jackass movie will just cut from one stunt to the next and consequently the guys become little more than crash dummies and it’s easy to think of them as disposable entities. Jackass 3.5 solves this by being much more of a reflective piece with the guys you love seeing devastated talking about their favorite memories, how the stunts came to them, and which ones they actually fear doing.
“I don’t know guys, I’ve never done this before.”
“Well neither have I, I mean, why would you?”
The former said in a moment of weakness and the latter its obvious response; the conversation sums up the mentality of everything Jackass stands for. Jackass 3.5 includes stunts like surfing on barrels, a snapping turtle biting Steve-O’s behind, people being hit with fish, a paintball-shooting helicopter, a dildo bazooka, a flaming gauntlet run, testicular electrocution, base jumping off of horses, skiing into trees, belt sander skates, crashing through drywall, fatsuits, enemas, woodpeckers, diet cola Mentos bombs, and flying kicks to the face. As noted earlier, this installment has much less to do with feces and more to do with flat out pain, and for these guys that’s just another day. Jackass 3.5 really focuses on the crotch shots, with a montage of truly creative and highly practiced crotch shots rounding out the end.
What keeps Jackass 3.5 from being a pointless retread is the running commentary on stunts and how they’re filmed, giving Johnny Knoxville, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, and Bam Margera a chance to come across as something other than morons willing to endure danger for a moment in the spotlight. That has always been one of the main criticisms of the Jackass series, “What’s the point?” There’s no direct competition for who they’re upstaging as they’ve pretty much got a monopoly on this brand of comedy. If you think the point of Jackass is doing damage to one another, you’re really only catching half the drift: Knoxville and company have turned self-mutilation into an art. Every bruise is like a personally designed tattoo that they have their friends emblazon on their body.
While all of the stunts themselves were shot during the creation of Jackass 3D (and thus you’ll see some overlap in locations and bits), the retrospective comes during their tour in Europe. This really means nothing for the film itself, save for the fact that the commentary bits have the London Bridge in the background. However without the commentary bits this wouldn’t have felt different enough from Jackass 3D to warrant its own release. It’s the thoughtful consideration of what the guys consider to be new or interesting in their crusade for “Christ almighty! Oww! Owwwww! Oh my God!” moments that gives this one any staying power, because even though it eschews the poop in favor of good old fashioned, bone crunching comedy, there’s a distinct lack of truly genius bits like the jet engine sequence from the previous release that makes this one pale in comparison on the stunt front. By splicing in the commentary, Jackass 3.5 suddenly has something to say.
An especially great tidbit to come out of Jackass 3.5 is the confirmation of what anyone who has watched the pranking hijinks in the films would suspect: everyone is nervous all the time because everyone’s pretty sure they’re going to be electrocuted, hit, or pissed on at any given moment.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
There’s no digital copy this time around but the outtakes have 20 minutes of additional footage nearly equal in quality to what appears in the film, some mediocre deleted scenes, footage from their European tour premieres of Jackass 3D, and a 41-minute retrospective look at the advent of the original Jackass TV series wherein the cast, director Jack Tremaine, and producer Spike Jonze talk about their memories from the series’ start. It’s interesting to see how it all began and even more interesting when you realize they’ve been doing this for 11 years.
“I’m 30 years old and I’m telling you that if I could buy a new body at this point, I would. Because everything hurts.” – Bam Margera
"Jackass 3.5" is on sale June 14, 2011 and is not rated. Action, Comedy. Directed by Jeff Tremaine. Starring Bam Margera, Johnny Knoxville, Steve O, Jason Acuna, Ryan Dunn, Preston Lacy, Chris Pontius.
