JACKASS III in 3D (at select theatres, not ours) (X for everything from ongoing obscenities, nudity, profanity, plenty of vomit, pee & poop): What's new with this raucous, spontaneously acted & shot, uninhibited crew of non-actors willing to make dangerous, silly, obscene fools of themselves for a paycheck? Nothing, but the use of the now ubiquitous 3D, which only heightens the grossness of an already disgusting series of "experiments" - and it's necessary since more than half the episodes fall flat as pancakes.
For the uninitiated (lucky) people who have never seen either of the two earlier debacles, it goes like this: A group of adolescent men with frat-like mentality sit around and talk about what they can do that would be dangerous, messy, humiliating, last at least five seconds, and be funny - in that order of importance. When they've come up with 40 or 50 episodes, they get a production crew together and either cast them selves or find other simple-minded guys - actors not necessary, just lacking in inhibition - to do the episodes.
For the uninitiated (lucky) people who have never seen either of the two earlier debacles, it goes like this: A group of adolescent men with frat-like mentality sit around and talk about what they can do that would be dangerous, messy, humiliating, last at least five seconds, and be funny - in that order of importance. When they've come up with 40 or 50 episodes, they get a production crew together and either cast them selves or find other simple-minded guys - actors not necessary, just lacking in inhibition - to do the episodes.
Each episode goes like this: explain the situation to the cast, then perform with or without rehearsal, shoot it from more than one angle, and while the rest of the cast stands around offering cheers, oohs, ahs, laughs and groans in heavy doses the willing victims do their thing. Hey, it pays well! Each set piece is shot in regular time, usually repeated in the final cut in slow motion in case the audience didn't get it the first time around.
In this flick the cast is comprised of a wild set of characters with unbelievably unpleasant bodies - tall, short, muscular, flabby fat, pimply, not necessarily playing with a full deck or drugged fearless - actually embarrassing to witness.
It's a kind of crude take-off on Candid Camera without finesse, and with the cast of onlookers filling in as the explosive, over done laugh track. For no particular reason, little or no clothes are worn unless getting dunked or slugged with unpleasant goo (or in a couple of cases, urine).
And what do they do for laughs? About 45 scenes that begin with explanation, anticipation, the few seconds of routine and an open ended blackout. The routines? A huge hand that bops people as they walk up to it, playing with a loaded beehive as tether ball, romping in a very muddy corral with a herd of angry buffalo, a naked rear lofted that emits geysers of soft stools on command, running a gamut of stun guns & cattle prods, driving a scooter through a real showcase window, a tooth pull, a penis pull, a ram jam (don't ask) accompanied by the tune "There's a party in my pants & you're invited." Vomiting, defecating, urinating are frequent attempts at humor. A variety of shots are regularly aimed at a naked or nearly naked groin.
Most of the episodes achieve a modicum of anticipation that barely pays off, but others - like the barroom fracas with half a dozen midgets or the old gent with a foul mouth and enormous sexual prowess - fail miserably.
I left long before the 94-minutes of excruciating boredom took hold. If the above sounds in any way tantalizing, then I've done too reserved a job in explanation. This isn't art; it's exploitation of dumbed-down audiences. (Grade: F-)