Jackass 3

Based on an MTV series, this comedy franchise serves up a carnival of cruelty that some find wildly funny while others view it as an R-rated version of Three Stooges–type slapstick, mining laughs from humiliation and pain. Essentially a series of reckless, idiotic pranks, Jackass 3 finds ringleader Johnny Knoxville and his cohorts (Steve-O, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Jason “Wee Man” Acuña, Preston Lacy) performing a variety of practical jokes and numbskull stunts, including climbing a 40-foot pine dressed as Santa and his elf and then having the tree sawed down. Scatological gags abound (such as having a pig gobble an apple lodged in obese Lacy's butt cheeks), and the movie is filled with gross scenes of guys getting whacked in their private parts and doubling over in agony. Other “highlights” include a bar brawl involving midget combatants, and Knoxville and the gang roller-skating in a herd of buffalo. Director Jeff Tremaine's Jackass 3 is a crude, sadomasochistic theme-park ride of a movie that will have limited wider appeal. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include an MTV-produced “making-of” special (29 min.), outtakes (28 min.), deleted scenes (16 min.), and trailers. Blu-ray extras include the “classic” 3D theatrical version on DVD, and a bonus digital copy of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for this lame threequel.] (S. Granger)