Jackass Number Two: Movie & DVD Review (2006)

(Originally published 2006)

The first skit in the new “Jackass” movie is called “Puppet Show,” in which a little sock is made to look like a little mouse. That sounds almost unbearably cute, though do take heed--it’s likely best not to bring the little ones to this particular show.

The puppet, after all, is attached to a rather sensitive part of the male body, and it’s offered for consumption to a snake, which coils on cue, strikes and bites with a savagery that’s so wince-inducing, it will leave some of the men in attendance crossing their legs.

Welcome to “Jackass Number Two,” which is about as far removed from your everyday comedy as you can get. It comes, after all, from Johnny Knoxville and his Jackass team, who are still tough to top when it comes to pulling the sort of outrageously stupid stunts that inspire laughter as well as shock.

To say their new movie isn’t for everyone is a colossal understatement. In order to satisfy fans, the movie had the pressure of besting elements of the last movie, which included testicular electrocution, the consumption of "yellow snow cones," bungee wedgies, nipple-nibbling crocs, and a man walking into a hardware store to publicly use one of the display toilets. Charming stuff, for sure, but much of it was undeniably funny.

The same is true for the sequel, though those easily offended by, say, watching folks eat horse dung or attach leeches to their eyeballs should stay away. Far away. The Gulf of Mexico would be a good place.

Actually, it wouldn't. In the film, the Gulf is where Steve-O pokes a rather substantial hook through his cheek and is cast overboard, where he offers himself up as shark bait and nearly is taken down as such.

Not all of the skits are quite as dicey. John Waters, for instance, appears in a comparatively harmless scene in which a naked, 400-pound woman belly flops on the dwarf, Wee Man. The idea is to make Wee Man disappear. Waters succeeds.

Other skits hit more often than they miss, such as "Firehose Rodeo," “Mini Loop,” “The Brand,” “Lake Jump,” “Bad Grandpa,” “Beehive Limo” and “Medicine Ball Dodgeball.” I could have done without “Butt Chug,” “Anaconda Ball Pit” and especially “How to Milk a Horse,” which almost made me hurl--but, hey, that’s just me.

Like its predecessor and the cancelled MTV show on which both are based, "Jackass Number Two" is essentially about grown men exploring and celebrating what it means for boys to be boys--especially if the boys in question happen to be deranged, self-destructive, insane fools willing to do anything to get a laugh while testing the limits of the human body. Irresponsible? Sure. But for the most part, also funny--and that's the point.

Grade: B