Shocking 'Jackass' Lives Up to Television Fame

"Jackass: The Movie"

Johnny Knoxville is living the new American dream -- making lots of money with not much effort -- exempt from respecting anyone, including himself.

He's brilliant.

"Jackass: The Movie," a Dickhouse Production starring Knoxville and some of his sadistic and willing cronies, succeeds in everything it sets out to do. Much like the former television show, each of the unrelated scenes is hilarious, vomit-inducing or just plain absurd, stimulating a variety of reactions from the audience for all its 85 minutes.

On board are the token midget (Jason "Wee Man" Acuna), the fat man with an unusually shaped butt (Preston Lacy), the guy with a near-life-sized tattoo of himself on his back (Steve-O) and the two guys that get naked a lot (Chris Pontius and Ryan Dunn). They all have one thing in common -- a love for the inappropriate.

Let's just face it, most of daily life is boring. Most people are boring, and if you really think about the world for too long, you'll realize nothing matters. It's about time someone decided to perform asinine stunts for the sake of having a good time and entertaining America's youth.

Of course, there are people who will disagree -- people who think watching a grown man take a dump in a display toilet of a hardware store is "a bad influence" on their children.

People who believe hiding in a bush and repeatedly blowing a foghorn as golfers swing isn't funny but rude.

People who fail to understand why anyone would stick a toy car in his or her rectum just to see the look on the radiologist's face while interpreting the X-ray.

These people are what's wrong with planet Earth.

Sure, "Jackass" doesn't have a plot, but neither do most movies that aim for one. "Save the Last Dance," "A.I.," and anything with Jennifer Love Hewitt are just a few examples.

Feeble-stomached persons be warned: This movie contains yellow sno-cones and violent paper cuts applied to the webbings of fingers and toes. The cameraman and the urine-eater both vomit, and you might also -- but it's all in good fun.

A question of social responsibility invariably comes up with scenes like these, and that question is best answered by the midget when he farts in the face of a woman pointing out that his panda costume has no tail.

"Jackass" should be commended for its raw and unadulterated pursuit of what's funny. Although Knoxville and his friends make it look easy, humor is actually a delicate issue that easily can be botched if the wrong person gets to express an idea or give input.

"Jackass" is not to blame for giving tattoos while off-roading or for lighting fireworks attached to male genitalia because if humans weren't sick enough to find these funny, there would be no need.

Johnny Knoxville is successfully giving people what they want and enjoying life for its less serious pleasures. Deep down, every American wants to be him -- except for the ones who don't.

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.