There’s a feeling you get when you’re about to do something really stupid that grips your entire body, transforming you into a quivering, cringing child. You can feel your heart pounding through your chest, and you’re pretty sure that at any moment, you’re just going to pass smooth out. And yet, you can’t stop laughing at the absurdity of your stupid stunt, knowing good and well your last words might be, “Hey guys, watch this.” For 85 minutes of exactly that kind of sack-shrinking, butt-puckering, lip-biting intensity, save yourself the ER bills and watch Johnny Knoxville and company do horrible, horrible things to each other in Jackass 3.5.

All the regulars from this cast of crazy have returned to put together another film of things that would absolutely shame your parents. If you’ve seen the other four films (Holy crap, there are five of these movies!?), you already know what to expect: Stunts that will make you hide your eyes; stunts that will make you hide your testicles; stunts that will make you laugh uncontrollably (making your friends uncomfortably aware that you’re a sociopath). But Jackass 3.5 ups the ante of running back-to-back stunts by adding commentary from the cast for a real behind-the-scenes feel that the other films lacked, like a sympathy-pain-inducing documentary. It’s hard to imagine that, of all the things they did to each other for Jackass 3D, there were enough skits they left out to create an entire new movie – but thank God.

There is a scene in the film that compiles literally years (and hundreds upon hundreds of basketballs) to make up what Knoxville calls his “Incredible Nutshots” bit, and it is art. I’m not a huge fan of nutshot humor (I like to imagine a world in which that never became funny and scrotums are made out of titanium.), but the level of creativity and determination required to perform countless takes and elaborate feats where the singular purpose is to collide a fully inflated basketball into the groins of willing participants absolutely blows my mind. From the wings of an in-flight biplane? Come on. That’s genius.

Love it or hate it, you won’t be able to help wonder what is wrong with these guys and what they’ll come up with next.

Grade: C+



Jackass 3.5 releases weekly starting April 1 on Joost.com.