| Reviews & Columns |
|
Reviews DVD TV on DVD Blu-ray 4K UHD International DVDs In Theaters Reviews by Studio Video Games Features Collector Series DVDs Easter Egg Database Interviews DVD Talk Radio Feature Articles Columns Anime Talk DVD Savant Horror DVDs The M.O.D. Squad Art House HD Talk Silent DVD
|
 DVD Talk Forum |
|
|
| Resources |
|
DVD Price Search Customer Service #'s RCE Info Links |
|
Columns
  
 
|
|
|
Jackass: The Movie
Paramount // R // March 25, 2003
List Price: $29.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
"Jackass" is rude, crude, dangerous, controversial, sick, disgusting and stupid. However, "Jackass" is also pretty hilarious - at its best, I don't think I've laughed harder at anything in a few months. Best described as an R-rated cross between "Fear Factor" and "America's Funniest Home Videos", "Jackass" stars Johnny Knoxville and a group of co-stars, including skateboarder Bam Margera. Essentially, a group of 20/30-somethings who've never grown up. The movie also includes a couple of cameos from Henry Rollins and skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. The film is produced by "Adaptation" director Spike Jonze, even.
Although the press didn't seem to publicize the fact much, "Jackass" was one of the biggest hits of 2002, as the $5m film went on to gross just short of $65m. Having never seen the television show, "Jackass: The Movie" was my introduction. The best summary that I can come up with is that the movie is at its best during the simplest of the film's bits.
The funniest bit - at least for me - included one where Knoxville and some of his co-stars sneak onto a golf course with air horns that they use right when the golfer is about to complete their swing. A few other bits were pretty hilarious, as well, including "Tropical Pole Vault", where "Jackass" member Steve-O vaults into various things, including some deep standing water alongside a highway that looks to include chemicals, and other debris. Later in the picture, Knoxville also tries on a pair of homemade "Rocket Skates". Essentially, "Team Jackass" tries its hardest to injure themselves (or make themselves throw up) in ways that, more often than not, are pretty hilarious. Some of the bits are too gross or go nowhere, but I found most of them awfully funny.
As for whether it's a "movie" or not, "Jackass" certainly doesn't fall into the traditional idea of what makes up a film. Still, the opening scene does show good humor in "Hollywood"-izing the show, as the entire cast rides in a giant shopping cart, slo-mo down a hill, while fake bricks are shot out of cannons. The rest of the movie, however, is shot on video with minimal camerawork. The $5 million seems to have gone into bigger stunts and taking the show on the road, as some of the stunts take place in Japan and other locations.
As for the controversy, "Jackass" ran into trouble on MTV when a few teenagers were injured imitating the show's stunts. The show has a medic and the cast - as we see in the movie in a couple of scenes - get injured. Watch the movie as stupid, silly and crudely hilarious entertainment. Don't try these stunts yourself (after watching the movie, I don't know why anyone would want to.)
The DVD
VIDEO: "Jackass" is presented by Paramount Home Video in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. As noted in the film portion of the review, the opening and closing scenes were apparently shot on film (16mm, according to the Internet Movie Database), while the rest of the movie was shot on video. Given the material, the picture quality is perfectly fine. The image reamined sharp and crisp, even with some of the "hidden camera" footage.
There were really very few problems with the image quality. A couple of instances of pixelation were present in the film, if only because the camera got slammed. No compression artifacts were spotted, and only a few minimal instances of edge enhancement were seen. The print looked excellent, with no specks or marks.
The film's natural color palette looked fine, with no concerns. Essentially, Paramount's presentation shows off the mostly shot-on-video film about as well as it can probably look. There's a full-frame version also available, but why wouldn't you want to see "Jackass" in all of its widescreen glory?
SOUND: "Jackass" is presented by Paramount in Dolby Digital 5.1. The film's soundtrack does have a few moments of fairly active surround use (most noticably in the opening scene and a bit where a golf cart goes overhead), but other than a few brief bits, this is generally a very front-heavy soundtrack. Aside from clear dialogue, the punk tunes were also presented with quality sound.
EXTRAS:
Commentaries: The DVD includes two audio commentaries - one from lead jackass Johnny Knoxville, director Jeff Tremaine and cinematographer Dimitry Elyashkevich, while the other commentary includes the remaining members of the "Jackass" cast. Given the fact that there's really nothing "technical" about "Jackass", the commentaries are mostly jokey affairs where the cast provides some funny stories that happened on set and offer their thoughts about getting hurt or getting sick in each scene. Both tracks are entertaining, although they each have some patches of silence at times.
Deleted Scenes: The DVD includes 27 minutes worth of deleted footage. Some of these bits take too long to get going or simply don't work, but there's also some great moments here. There's an extended version of "Tropical Pole Vault" where we see Steve-O get very sick after getting out of the gross water, a much longer version of Seattle Skimboarding and a very elaborate alternate ending that didn't quite work.
Making Of: The DVD offers a 24-minute, extended version of MTV's "Making Of". There's no real "insight" offered within, but it's amusing to see some of the behind-the-scenes moments and tidbits like the film's crew figuring out how to use the larger format cameras.
Also Some so-so outtakes, music videos, promo spots, the film's theatrical trailer, bios and galleries (a poster gallery with some cool, unused concepts and a production photo gallery).
Final Thoughts: Some of the stunts go nowhere and some are too gross to get a laugh, but "Jackass" - I'm ashamed to admit - is extremely funny at times. Paramount's DVD edition offers fine audio/video quality, along with a remarkable amount of solid supplemental features. Recommended for fans of the show.
"Jackass" is rude, crude, dangerous, controversial, sick, disgusting and stupid. However, "Jackass" is also pretty hilarious - at its best, I don't think I've laughed harder at anything in a few months. Best described as an R-rated cross between "Fear Factor" and "America's Funniest Home Videos", "Jackass" stars Johnny Knoxville and a group of co-stars, including skateboarder Bam Margera. Essentially, a group of 20/30-somethings who've never grown up. The movie also includes a couple of cameos from Henry Rollins and skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. The film is produced by "Adaptation" director Spike Jonze, even.
Although the press didn't seem to publicize the fact much, "Jackass" was one of the biggest hits of 2002, as the $5m film went on to gross just short of $65m. Having never seen the television show, "Jackass: The Movie" was my introduction. The best summary that I can come up with is that the movie is at its best during the simplest of the film's bits.
The funniest bit - at least for me - included one where Knoxville and some of his co-stars sneak onto a golf course with air horns that they use right when the golfer is about to complete their swing. A few other bits were pretty hilarious, as well, including "Tropical Pole Vault", where "Jackass" member Steve-O vaults into various things, including some deep standing water alongside a highway that looks to include chemicals, and other debris. Later in the picture, Knoxville also tries on a pair of homemade "Rocket Skates". Essentially, "Team Jackass" tries its hardest to injure themselves (or make themselves throw up) in ways that, more often than not, are pretty hilarious. Some of the bits are too gross or go nowhere, but I found most of them awfully funny.
As for whether it's a "movie" or not, "Jackass" certainly doesn't fall into the traditional idea of what makes up a film. Still, the opening scene does show good humor in "Hollywood"-izing the show, as the entire cast rides in a giant shopping cart, slo-mo down a hill, while fake bricks are shot out of cannons. The rest of the movie, however, is shot on video with minimal camerawork. The $5 million seems to have gone into bigger stunts and taking the show on the road, as some of the stunts take place in Japan and other locations.
As for the controversy, "Jackass" ran into trouble on MTV when a few teenagers were injured imitating the show's stunts. The show has a medic and the cast - as we see in the movie in a couple of scenes - get injured. Watch the movie as stupid, silly and crudely hilarious entertainment. Don't try these stunts yourself (after watching the movie, I don't know why anyone would want to.)
The DVD
VIDEO: "Jackass" is presented by Paramount Home Video in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. As noted in the film portion of the review, the opening and closing scenes were apparently shot on film (16mm, according to the Internet Movie Database), while the rest of the movie was shot on video. Given the material, the picture quality is perfectly fine. The image reamined sharp and crisp, even with some of the "hidden camera" footage.
There were really very few problems with the image quality. A couple of instances of pixelation were present in the film, if only because the camera got slammed. No compression artifacts were spotted, and only a few minimal instances of edge enhancement were seen. The print looked excellent, with no specks or marks.
The film's natural color palette looked fine, with no concerns. Essentially, Paramount's presentation shows off the mostly shot-on-video film about as well as it can probably look. There's a full-frame version also available, but why wouldn't you want to see "Jackass" in all of its widescreen glory?
SOUND: "Jackass" is presented by Paramount in Dolby Digital 5.1. The film's soundtrack does have a few moments of fairly active surround use (most noticably in the opening scene and a bit where a golf cart goes overhead), but other than a few brief bits, this is generally a very front-heavy soundtrack. Aside from clear dialogue, the punk tunes were also presented with quality sound.
EXTRAS:
Commentaries: The DVD includes two audio commentaries - one from lead jackass Johnny Knoxville, director Jeff Tremaine and cinematographer Dimitry Elyashkevich, while the other commentary includes the remaining members of the "Jackass" cast. Given the fact that there's really nothing "technical" about "Jackass", the commentaries are mostly jokey affairs where the cast provides some funny stories that happened on set and offer their thoughts about getting hurt or getting sick in each scene. Both tracks are entertaining, although they each have some patches of silence at times.
Deleted Scenes: The DVD includes 27 minutes worth of deleted footage. Some of these bits take too long to get going or simply don't work, but there's also some great moments here. There's an extended version of "Tropical Pole Vault" where we see Steve-O get very sick after getting out of the gross water, a much longer version of Seattle Skimboarding and a very elaborate alternate ending that didn't quite work.
Making Of: The DVD offers a 24-minute, extended version of MTV's "Making Of". There's no real "insight" offered within, but it's amusing to see some of the behind-the-scenes moments and tidbits like the film's crew figuring out how to use the larger format cameras.
Also Some so-so outtakes, music videos, promo spots, the film's theatrical trailer, bios and galleries (a poster gallery with some cool, unused concepts and a production photo gallery).
Final Thoughts: Some of the stunts go nowhere and some are too gross to get a laugh, but "Jackass" - I'm ashamed to admit - is extremely funny at times. Paramount's DVD edition offers fine audio/video quality, along with a remarkable amount of solid supplemental features. Recommended for fans of the show.
|
| Popular Reviews |
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Release List | Reviews | Shop | Newsletter | Forum | DVD Giveaways | Blu-Ray | Advertise |
|
Copyright 2024 DVDTalk.com All Rights Reserved. Legal Info, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use,
Manage Preferences,
Your Privacy Choices 
| |||||||