Jackass 3D Review

You know who was my favorite character in “Jackass 3D”?

It wasn’t Steve-O, who displays a curious sense of childlike glee even as the stunt he’s performing is making him sick. It wasn’t Bam Margera, who shares my absolute terror of snakes and my love of sneaking up behind people and punching them in the face with a boxing glove. (Ok, only one of those things is true.) It wasn’t even Johnny Knoxville, the jovial ringleader of the “Jackass” crew.

It was the one camera guy who literally couldn’t stomach some of the antics displayed in the movie and repeatedly vomited. Now THAT’S a stand-in for the moviegoing audience if I ever saw one!

Going into “Jackass 3D” I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to follow what was happening because I hadn’t seen “Jackass” or “Jackass Number Two.” (It turned out to not be an issue — probably because I’m so smart.)

The story…HA! Just kidding. “Jackass 3D” — as I suspect the previous two movies were — is really just a presentation of the group’s elaborate, disgusting, distasteful and, yes, oftentimes hilarious stunts…but in 3D.

The only problem is that, besides the movie’s opening/closing credit bits, there really isn’t that much of a reason for “Jackass” to be in 3D. (Other than the corresponding upcharge that helped this movie become a box office smash, of course.) Then again, the point of “Jackass” is that there isn’t much of a reason for anything the crew does.

Whether you enjoy this movie or not depends on your tolerance for poop, dildos, vomit, urine and seeing grown men inflict pain on each other in extraordinary ways. Personally, I seriously admire the fact that these guys have the imagination to ask questions like, “What would happen if we ran through a maze covered with stun guns and cattle prods?” or “Could we really extract a tooth by tying it to a Lamborghini and driving off?” More importantly, they have the guts (and lack of regard for their bodies) to go out and try to answer them.

Of course, even at a lean 94 minutes some of the gags end up feeling repetitive. In fact, my favorite scene was probably the one with the midgets in the bar because of how surreal and absurd it was. I mean, there’s just no way watching a guy get whacked in the groin for the 27th time is going to be as funny as it was the first time.

But it was still pretty funny that first time.

Jackass 3D…B-