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SCREEN SCENES: "Jackass Number Two"
"Jackass Number Two"
Director Jeff Tremaine
PARAMOUNT PICTURES/MTV FILMS
Johnny Knoxville and his crew of mentally twisted stuntmen have taken things to a new level of masochistic ridiculousness – so ridiculous that stunts such as letting a leech suck the blood out of an eyeball and shoving a massive metal fishhook through the face are easily forgotten.
“Jackass Number Two,” the sequel to “Jackass,” offers another insane montage of death-defying stunts. Knoxville, with the help of Bam Margera, Chris Pontius, Steve-O and others, performs skits so dangerous, nauseating and horribly wonderful that you can’t help but either laugh hysterically or cringe in an I-can’t-believe-he’s-doing-that, empathetic and (hopefully) not sympathetic way.
The gang’s new acts include genitalia snake-biting, human rocket-launching and a round of “Medicine Ball Dodgeball.”
But it is the moments when Knoxville blindfolds himself and stands in the path of a charging bull, or when Wee Man bungee jumps over a lake – attached to an absurdly fat man instead of a stationary post – that you realize the new stunts are somehow more creative and clever than their predecessors.
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The film’s skits make for a weirdly entertaining flurry of madness that leaves one staring for a moment in silence, wondering how this group of creatively warped and self-destructive human beings ever found each other, let alone convinced anyone to supply money to fund their disturbing addictions.
But it is a madness that continues to entertain. And numerous camera angles allow the audience to catch every last bit. The cameras get so close, in fact, that cameramen often unwillingly become part of the action.
“Number Two” takes the “Jackass” concept to a new level by shocking not only the audience but also its own stars. For example, Knoxville masterminds one scene in which a locked limousine filled with unsuspecting friends is filled with a swarm of bees, and another involving an elaborate hostage scenario. His costars are literally left crying, urinating themselves and utterly paranoid.
If self-destructive and perverted humor isn’t your thing, the sequel will probably be 95 minutes of gratuitously violent, naked and distasteful material. But, for lovers of “Jackass,” the antics of its sequel will be anything but unsatisfying.
E-mail Segna at bsegna@media.ucla.edu.
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