Jackass 3D Gets The Last Laugh

Spawned from an MTV franchise, Jackass 3D is a movie about grown men pranking and hurting themselves in the most ludicrous, disgusting and painful ways imaginable.

And it just made $50 million dollars.

In fact, that’s the biggest movie opening in October ever.

It’s one of the top ten Box Office openers this year.

And it’s the biggest R-rated Comedy opening ever, more than The Hangover, Knocked Up and Scary Movie 1, 2, and 3.

How the hell did a movie like this become such a success? Are Johnny Knoxville and the other recognizable Jackasses really that popular? Is a kick in the balls worth that much Box Office revenue?

What’s the story here?!

Well, there is no story.

On the grand scale, this prankster pic has no story. There’s no order to the pranks, no rising tension, or larger dramatic question. There’s no character growth. In fact, the only thing that signifies a beginning and ending is Johnny Knoxville literally declaring the beginning and ending. Without it, we’d be pretty shocked if the credits started rolling.

Now Jackass always does a brilliant job of perfectly setting up the prank, executing with surprise and paying off with the fantastic conclusion. In this regard, ever prank is a story.

But if there is no real story, why does Paramount’s latest Jackass collaboration with MTV Films nearly double expectations? The 3D visual effect did help to inflate ticket prices and attract audiences, but that alone didn’t pull in the crowds. Piranha and other 3D flops are testament to the fickle limitations to the cinematic device.

And while some might think audiences want pure entertaining escapism, recent box office trends suggest the exact opposite, with the latest #1 B.O. openers including thought-provoking movies like The Social Network, the Town, the American, and Inception. The spectacle oriented Avatars, Clash of the Titans, and Alice and Wonderlands have faded to more complex autumn contenders.

So if the reason isn’t the 3D, the escapism, or the story, then what is it?

Well...it’s funny.

No, I mean, it’s hilarious.

And beyond that, we are starved for comedy. Starved.

Eliminating romantic comedies or action-adventure comedies (Date Night or Kick-Ass), here is a list of nationally-released, live-action comedies in the past year:

Get Him To The Greek, Easy A, Piranha, The Other Guys, Grown Ups, You Again, Vampires Suck, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Hot Tub Time Machine, Cop Out, Dinner for Schumucks, Death at a Funeral, Why Did I Get Married Too?, The Spy Next Door, Furry Vengeance and Tooth Fairy.

How many of these comedies did you laugh out loud at?

With lackluster showings by formula-driven studio pics, comic filmmakers have been falling short, letting only a few exceptions, like the Hangover, Hot Tub Time Machine and Easy A get through the malaise.

Then Jackass comes along and doesn’t just deliver a kick to the balls. It gives a seminar on comedy, mastering 5 out of 7 types of humor, leaving out only romantic comedy and farce.

{SPOILER...if one could spoil it by talking about it}

Satire/Parody – The boys don’t just pelt their friend with paintballs. They go duck hunting, launching a feather-costumed Jackass off a giant inflatable balloon that sails him through the air while the other hunter-dressed Jackasses fire away. Santa Claus and his merry Elf climb a snowy pine before the tree is cut down and Santa is dropped to a painful crash. In each prank, they use satire to deliver the ordinary setup with a humorous take.

Screwball – While some prank setups use satire, others use the pure absurdity of the situation to sell the laugh. Trailer moments like heavyset Preston walking into the convenient story with his dog, only to have a mini doppleganger walk out to reclaim the dog. These setups capture imaginative takes on our ordinary world.

Black Comedy – This movie displays the dark musings of the human mind. Humor at the pain and misfortune of other people. It gets real when Bam Margera must face his greatest fear: snakes. And yet, it pushes past the horror and tells us it’s okay to laugh. Everyone will be fine in the end.

Slapstick – Yes, there are the whacks in the balls and slaps in the faces, which make this the lowest form of physical comedy. But these guys embellish slapstick in ways you have never seen before. Who thinks to try to blend into a background to avoid a charing bull? Or super glue two men together?

Gross Out – Whether Steve-o is being tossed in a port-a-potty by bungee cord to create a poo cocktail, or they are causing a vomit marathon by drinking sweat off the most obese Jackass in the crew, there is plenty of gross out humor here. Oh yes, the creativity is not ignored.

Jackass even brings a layer of anti-establishmentism to its ranks. After all, no respecting member of society would partake in such debauchery. But since we support the Jackasses, well then we can just go ahead and give a big middle finger to the establishment.

Ask yourself, what was the last comedy you saw that tapped into such comic diversity and made you feel like a badass for laughing so hard?

Jackass 3D's comedy is honest, its premises are simple (compared to some of the more concocted studio comedy situations), and its laughs are perfectly delivered.

And that’s why audiences are going to see Jackass 3D. Because it’s funny. And everyone who has seen a promo or a trailer can tell it's funny. They can tell they are going to laugh.

Studio comedies could learn a thing or two from the Jackass crew.