Jackass Number Two: Unrated

By now you should know if you are a Jackass fan or not. If you aren’t, well, it should be easy to disregard the sequel. Fans though will eat this movie up, as the boys don’t disappoint. With more money, time and ideas, they’ve taken their harebrained stunts to a higher plane. Throwing limits and decency out the window (remember, DVDs are for housing the more outrageous, "unrated” footage), Johnny Knoxville and his gang of merry daredevils attempt everything from riding a fire hose on full blast, playing in a pit of balls with anacondas, withstanding an explosion of riot balls to staging a terrorist attack that goes awry while upping the nudity ante with the utmost disregard for public decency. As I said, it’s more extreme, so much so Bam Margera actually cries, twice. For some, Two may push indecency and danger too far, as Pontius tastes the juice of a stallion and Steve-O is used as shark bait, but without these risks they’d hardly be the button-pushing pranksters we love. It’s a better than expected sequel but it also proves that no matter how far out of their minds they go to top their past, the original’s spontaneity and low-budget charm will always be the franchise’s measure. The DVD enhances the movie with a surplus of crazy antics that clearly were left out to attain a R-rating. The "making of” is an informative look at what madness goes on during the nutty production, detailing the problems of recognition and the fear of someone dying ("Mother Nature’s on our side,” Pontius points out). Unrated additional segments provide Jackass’s most gut-wrenching scene to date (for men) titled "the ball bookmark” and more deleted scenes don’t disappoint. However, the outtakes set on giving Rip Taylor and Spike Jonze’s old lady Gloria more screen time are undesirable. The group commentary, as we’ve come to expect, is disorderly but a lot of fun, with an emphasis on harassing easy target Ehren McGherey. From their comments, it appears the film’s opening with the cast running from the bulls was genuine, which is dumbfounding considering they’re actually being trampled. (Paramount)