Jackass 3D Review

• 28th Oct 2010

Let’s not get into the artistic merits of Jackass. You know what it is. You either accept it or you don’t. It’s frankly amazing how a series of skits on a TV show transformed so well onto the big screen back in 2002. Four years later they managed to up themselves with the Number Two movie that came out. Production value was up, but there was also much time for low budget pranks and gross outs.
Now they are going that natural step further in what could well be their last outing (as these guys aint gonna get any younger). Yes, they have jumped on the 3D bandwagon.

Filmed in all that 3D glory that most people (including myself) don’t see what the big deal is about – the Jackass team open in a slo-mo scene that is purely for the benefit of showing of the 3D as well as how much facial skin vibrates when you take a big bit. And to be honest it is pretty funny.

In fact, that is probably the best way to sum up this third instalment. It isn’t better than the first two, it isn’t dire, but it is pretty funny. It could also be one of the most painful of the three for the performers. There are quite a few stunts that really look like they hurt a lot. We don’t want to give away any of the pranks, but there are a few here that start to hurt you before you have even seen the outcome.

Rest assured the boys have plenty of fun with baseball bats, jumping bikes over rivers, paintball guns, old man make up, portaloos and even an extended scene with a jet engine. There is plenty of sweat, blood, tears, piss, crap and puke too!

There is always a level of hit and miss with these types of pranks. The first two films successfully managed to keep the hit factor way up (which cannot be said for the turgid UK Dirty Sanchez). Jackass 3D does drop the bar with far too much pissing around after stunts have completed, so a bit of sharper editing could have helped here but then, with the amount of skits that they have inserted here it was probably getting hard finding nearly an hour and a half to fit in. The most pointless part comes in an appearance from Sean William Scott who needs to take the trophy for most pointless cameo ever as he literally stands there watching, so becomes a bit of a distraction.

The opening and endings of each film usually offer something grand and on a bigger scale. Here the impact is less so. As mentioned there is a slo-mo opener here in a studio room. Which was as we said “pretty funny.” The ending is perhaps a little too close to the same target and has less of the grand finale that the last two films offered, even if things do get a bit explosive.

Still, the film is over long before you expect it to be and any film that leaves you with the sense of wanting more can’t be bad. This is perfectly enjoyably crass fun and will keep fans happy and kept this fan pretty happy.

Steven Hurst

Jackass 3D is out on 5th November.