Release Date: October 25, 2002
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Jeff Tremaine
Screenwriter: Johnny Knoxville
Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Jason Acuna, Steve-O
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: R (for dangerous, sometimes extremely crude stunts, language and nudity)
Official Website: Jackassthemovie.com

Plot Summary: Johnny Knoxville and his crew of crazies take the concept of the MTV show "Jackass" - a bunch of guys doing dangerous and disturbing stunts just to see what happens - and turns it into a movie, where they can get away with more than they could on TV, including a climactic stunt of immense insanity.

Reviewed by Peter Veugelaers © 2003
- Zero stars: See it and die!

Thankfully I have never seen the MTV series from which Jackass the Movie originally developed from. Having blindly gone into a screening without any realistic expectations of what to find there it quickly dawned on me from the opening sequence that this is not really supposed to be pure or art cinema, far from it. The purpose of this is to entertain. So, why is it that I just couldn’t get into the swing of things, into the rhythm of persistent use of downright immature excess?

When classical theme scores are used self-indulgently then I understood that although this wasn’t Porky’s it still had that nothing is scared underpinning streak. South Park at least tries to insert a moral into its gross relativity, which isn’t saying much about South Park, however. Jackass is a succession of stunts and pranks intended to titillate the strangely immoral in us as well as, paradoxically, appeal to our natural sense of righteousness when we know what these guys are doing is against all common propriety. It’s weird, but you can laugh while at the same time assert the injustice of certain scenes.

The two guys in front of me helped see the light side of this barrage of physicality in all its raw brute nudity and expression, from mutilating bodies and celebrating their natural functions, to making fun of Asians and the elderly. They never missed cues to laugh loud, so let’s put this down to Jackass being light stress relief. In all good taste, however, this cannot be enjoyed. Rather, this movie is an embarrassment.

Hardly incredibly brave, but instead incredibly gung-ho, this group of giggling guys have a mission which is essentially self-defeating. From time to time Jackass delights in people’s misfortunes and the public display of humiliating others in the guise of entertainment, and the public showing of what looks like a frat boy’s home video, with appropriately shoddy production values, should be kept in the attic.