JACKASS 3D (2010)

Jackass 3D - so real it'll make you vomit, then laugh, then vomit.

I don't know if there's actually been any films quite like the Jackass movie series, which started in 2002 with Jackass: The Movie and continued in 2006 with Jackass Number Two. Over the years (and starting with the initial show on MTV in 2000) Johnny Knoxville (Men in Black II [2002]) has given us the gift of an intentional, R-rated version of America's Funniest Home Videos. You think its funny to see a kid throw a baseball at his dad's groin? What if the dad knows it's coming and you can see the "Holy shit" look in his eyes? Now that's funny. What Knoxville has now done (being the pioneer that he sorta is) is said, okay, okay - that is funny. But what if we do it all in... (wait for it) super cool, state of the art 3-D?!

I know what you're thinking - because I (and anybody else with a slight distaste for sheep culture) are thinking the same thing. "No, Johnny! Don't! Jackass is perfect with its home video style the way it is! Don't jump on this band wagon and ruin it!" I guess I should say, that's what I thought. That somebody so cool like Johnny Knoxville would sell out due to studio pressure, blah blah blah. I was dead wrong.

Here's a guy that says "Look at what Hollywood is doing with 3-D. It's fucking everywhere. It's too fucking everywhere. And nobody is doing anything that looks remotely 3-D with it either. It makes things look pretty, sure, but where's all the shit that flies out at you? Where's the illusion that you can reach out and touch something that's not really there? I think we should do that. Yeah, yeah. A 3-D Jackass!" The thing you will be able to reach out and "touch"? A flying dildo, feces (lots of it) and maybe a penis or two (and not your own or the stranger next to you, please).

When it comes to the Jackass movies you probably know the drill - mix two parts gross out humour with one part insanely stupid stunts and three parts 'how the hell did they think of that?' The result? Pure enjoyment. Although I had my doubts about what the cast could do this third time around (and in 3-D nonetheless), Jackass 3D may be short on a few ideas that made the original shows and movies so endearing - but I'll damned if it doesn't work. Not only that, but the 3-D in this installment of Jackass makes this film the best 3-D movie of the year. Also added to the repertoire? A super slow mo camera you'll find more at home in TV shows like Time Warp and Mythbusters. Remember that shot in The Matrix Revolutions (2003) where Neo punches Agent Smith in the face and it goes crazy super slow? Lots of that stuff in Jackass, only real, and with more than just a punch to the face. Awesome.

Jackass 3D gets an open door, easily. Definitely one of the more entertaining pieces of cinema I've seen this year and one of the best times I've had at a theatre in a while. If you think a horror movie makes you cringe to the point where you cover your eyes and peak through your fingers, think again. I don't know how many times I sunk into my seat thinking nothing but "Holy shit..." (pun intended). Go see this movie. Go see it in 3-D. You won't regret it.

*Stills courtesy of Dickhouse Productions