Extras:
2 Audio Commentaries, MTV Making Of Jackass, Outtakes,
Additional Footage, Promo Spots, 2 Music Videos, Theatrical Trailer,
Cast & Crew Bios, Photo Gallery, Poster Gallery.
Director:
Jeff Tremaine
Cast of Jackasses:
Johnny Knoxville
Bam Margera
Chris Pontius
Steve-O
Dave England
Ryan Dunn
Jason "wee man" Acuna
Preston Lacy
Ehren McGhehey
Some of you may be wondering just what the hell is such a big deal about this movie.
You probably heard about how well it did (working at a
theater I had the unfortunate oppurtunity of finding spots of vomit
after every show probably due to insane laughter and uncontrollable body
fluids) and confirming the fact that we have some pretty bad movies over
here. But wait a minute, is it bad? No and in fact it's one of the
funniest movies you'll ever see if you're human. I'm serious.
To call this a movie would be a slap in the face to all sensible patrons
judging how this is really just a series of wild stunts (not just stunts
but gags with real unpredictable people) spread out over 84 minutes. It
all started in 2000 when Jackass premiered on MTV (of course, who'd you
expect to get it... God I hate that channel) to untracked success. It was
just a thirty minute show of regular joes like Johnny Knoxville and Bam
Margera doing stunts that would either hurt them or satisfy their
appetite for mischief. A typical episode would have someone in a
porta-john and someone pushing it down the hill or crashing into a
grocery store in a shopping cart but nude. It was really funny stuff.
Now 2 years later (well, the movie came out in 2002 so don't start
getting all 'typo error' on me) and some time after the end of the show
are the stunts still fresh? Yes and there as great as they ever were.
Now remember these guys are not actors and none of this was scripted
meaning zero plot. There are 40 stunts here so lets go down a few of the
highlights. May be spoilers if you haven't seen it but if you want a
brief summary.
1. Knoxville rents a car, takes it to a destruction derby, mutilates it
beyond comprehension, and takes it back to an unsuspecting rental
buisness claming it's their problem.
2. Chris Pontius takes a shit in a hardware store toilet and runs out
before having to clean it up.
3. Steve-O snorts wasabi up the nose and vomit ensues.
4. Knoxville and crew take to the golf course and use air horns every
time somebody comes down to swing.
5. Knoxville and Margera dress up as burgulars and crash into a
successful computer business.
Picking those five were hard because almost every stunt is funny save
maybe a couple. Watch Whale Shark Gummers and you'll see what I mean
about a couple being ridiculous. Some of them work and some do not but
this still a very funny film (or a look at the social degradtion of our
society if you're a film snob). Paced at an excellent time, this film
flies by and watching it with friends is a guaranteed blast.
Paramount presents 'Jackass: The Movie' in anamorphic 1.78:1
(approximately though some may say 1.85:1) widescreen. This was shot on
a variety of cameras including home video, super 8, and regular film
cameras. I honestly thought this would be a mess considering the type of
cameas used but Paramount has produced one hell of a transfer. Blacks
are deep and pixelization is nil. The only problem you'll have is the
subdued colors but that's just due to the cameras used in some scenes.
Also, Paramount has taken a leaf from Universal and Warners book (here
in the states anyway) and has begun releasing seperate widescreen and
FOOLscreen versions on EVERY new release including this one. You Region
2ers are lucky how you get one version and avoid the confusion. If the
studios only explained to the people, hell they should put a commercial
before a theatrical film since they already have 10 minutes of them
anyway. 'Ugh!' indeed.
Audio is offered up in two options (both English) Dolby Surround 2.0 and
Dolby Digital 5.1. Obviously the 5.1 track exhibits much more ambience,
mostly in the scenes with the hard rock soundtrack playing. This
shouldn't have probably sounded that great but you'd be hard pressed to
find problems since dialogue is clear.
Now why can't all Paramount titles be like this ('Escape From LA'
without a Carpenter commentary, come on!). They have loaded this DVD
with everything you need and nearly every extra is watchable.
Audio Commentaries:
2 are provided here and both are great. The first
features Johnny Knoxville with two members of the crew. The second is
the best to go and features the whole group of Jackasses (minus
Knoxville for some reason) having a good time laughing at themselves on
the movie. Definitely watch the second commentary if you skip the first,
you won't be dissapointed.
MTV- Making of Jackass:
24 minutes, full frame. What may have been
studio promotional fluff is actually a newly filmmed series of
interviews and gags. Good insight is provided here and there and remains
interesting throughout.
Outtakes:
7 mintes, anamorphic. Unused stunts and bloopers, mostly funny at times.
Additional Footage:
19 segments total, 27 minutes, anamorphic. Most
of these are deleted scenes and extended stunts. Some of these are
definitely hilarious but a few do not work.
2 Music Videos:
"If You Wanna Be Dumb" is a very funny music video
interlaced with new stunts or TV faves. "We Want Fun" this video focuses
on the wrap party of the film but damn that song is annoying.
Promo Spots:
9 total and some are pretty funny like the merchandising spot.
Theatrical Trailer:
Non-anamorphic. At least it doesn't lead you to thinking the film has a plot.
Cast and Crew Bios:
A very extensive digest of bios.
Galleries:
A photo gallery with some pretty good captions and some unused poster galleries.
This is one of the only DVDs I had fun with watching all the extras.
Paramount has done a great job.
Packaging is amaray. The film's theatrical poster is used as the cover.
There are 40 chapters total, each featuring a stunt (minues the end
creditis which still include a few). The front menu is animated, rest
are static.
Overall, you've got to be pretty stuck up not to be able find some
laughs in this hilarious film. Paramount has put together some great
extras, a great transfer, and good sound to make a well recommended
DVD.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
