Jackass: The Movie

Warning from Paramount Home Entertainment (UK): The stunts in this movie were performed by professionals, so neither you nor your dumb buddies should attempt anything from this movie.

Some critics see the success of Jackass: The Movie as the last nail in the coffin of civilisation--and they're probably right. This compilation of pain-inflicting stunts and embarrassing pranks has no artistic merit whatsoever (which doesn't keep it from being freakishly entertaining). Among other things, Johnny Knoxville and his posse get beaten up by a female kick-boxing champion; shoot bottle rockets out of their rectums; run amok in Japan wearing giant panda bear costumes; swim with whale sharks while holding pounds of brine shrimp in their swimsuits; and get done up in realistic old age makeup so that they can race each other in motorized wheelchairs, among other goofs. It's a weird mixture of machismo and masochism, adolescent recklessness and frat-boy homoeroticism, and some day someone will write a doctoral thesis about how Jackass relates to our safety-obsessed society; in the meantime, just enjoy. --Bret Fetzer