Jackass: The Movie MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 Content: -4

WARNING to Parents: This review contains information about this film that may not be suitable for young children. We urge you to read the review and then explain in your own words to your children why they should not see this movie.

The controversial MTV television show Jackass features Johnny Knoxville and his band of daredevil accomplices performing acts of stupidity, some of which have been attempted by viewers, causing injury. In fact, the beginning and end of the TV show and film, as well as all advertising, includes a stern warning to viewers to not try this at home. The stunts on the TV show range from snowboarding down city steps to Mr. Knoxville, dressed in padding, absorbing close-range batted baseballs, to various candid camera interactions with innocent bystanders. In almost all cases the stunt ends in some kind of injury to the players, which usually isnt too serious, and, in a Three Stooges, slapstick fashion, can be amusing to a younger audience.

As is often the case when a television show goes to the big screen, the opportunity arises to push the envelope far past what is allowed on TV. Jackass: The Movie contains many of the types of stunts performed on TV, but ventures forward (backward?) into an almost Mondo Cane-like, twisted, perverted, extreme world of disgusting, gross-out humor. With, of course, Mr. Knoxville and his cohorts laughing all the way to the bank. Here are some of the lowlights: a man inserts a Matchbox car into his rectum and goes to a doctor for an X-ray; two men shoot fireworks out of their derrieres; a man defecates in a car and in a floor display toilet in a hardware store; an electric muscle stimulator is attached to a mans genital area; paper cuts given between fingers and toes and on the corners of mouths; two men fill their swim trunks with bait shrimp and swim among whale sharks hoping to attract them to their genital areas; several men are shown vomiting, one after snorting wasabi and another after making a snow cone out of snow, urinating on it, and then eating it. Had enough? Some of the stunts, like the guys frolicking through Tokyo dressed in Panda Bear costumes, are humorous without having to resort to the gross-out. It appears that they had plenty of such stunts to make the film more entertaining than disgusting, but chose to go for the shock value instead. Also note that our Entertainment Rating is based on the appeal of a film to its target audience. The theater was roaring with laughter during most of the stunts and skits. Certainly older viewers will not find Jackass: The Movie to be as entertaining as those in the MTV generation. For any gengeration, this is surely THE movie to miss this year.

Preview Reviewer: Pete Zimowski
Distributor: Paramount Pictures, 5555 Melrose ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038