Movie Blog: 'Jackass' Flings Nasty Things At You

The infectious idiocy of Jackass flourishes in 3D, truly the wisest route to embark on for a successful but weary franchise. And the weariness is visible in the eyes of most of the group. The Lethal Weapon line "I'm getting too old for this $#*!" fits all of these fellas.

Whether it's the prospect of genital bashing, crawling down a narrow hallway littered with dangling tasers and cattle prods, or being bungee-launched in a well-seasoned Port-a-Potty, these gentlemen clearly want to collect their residuals and take five for a long time. And it's well deserved and certainly appreciated.

This outing seems more contrived then the previous films, and especially the original MTV series. With the first two films grossing over $150 million and counting, all members knew that the time would come to outdo themselves. And the 3-D element helps take many worn-out 2-D concepts to another level of ridiculousness.

Case in point: the scene involving a game of tetherball, where the ball is replaced with a beehive. In 2-D, the bees would barely read on camera. But in 3D, the audience can feel the urgency to run as far away as possible as Dave England and the newly sober Steve-O are engulfed by the angry apiformes.

The outrageous bookends of the previous Jackass films -- usually consisting of high speed/slow motion violence amongst the boys while on a soundstage (with an obligatory cameo from Rip Taylor) -- pale in comparison to Jackass 3-D. In fact, the bookend sequences are the highlight of this movie. Filmed with cutting edge Phantom high-speed digital cameras, this is where the major "oohs" and "ahhs" can be found.

If you've ever dared yourself to be thoroughly disgusted, titillated, or simply entertained by Jackass in the past, but that little voice in your head that knows better rules it out, Jackass 3D (on the big screen, mind you) should be the outing where you put that little voice to sleep for 100 minutes. Marvel, gag a little bit, laugh, and then gag a little bit more. It's fun! I can't over-emphasize the "gagging" aspect though. You will gag probably once. But like I said, it's fun!

Steve Swanson is a floor director and film blogger at WCCO.COM.