By Amber Layton
UHCLIDIAN STAFF

If you are under 18 and dreaming of seeing Johnny Knoxville and the "Jackass" crew pull their ridiculous pranks on the big screen, plan on sitting next to a parent. Security is tight for the film that debuted at No. 1, bringing in $22.7 million during its opening weekend, which more than quadrupled its reported $5 million budget.

To get into the distasteful, but nonetheless hysterical stunt show, everyone must show an ID at the ticket booth and sometimes again at the doors to the show. Employees at most theaters have been instructed to walk around with flashlights to check for any underage "Jackass" fans that may have snuck in while they were not looking.

Did this stop the film from beating out every other flick currently showing including "The Ring" and "Ghost Ship," both predicted to pull in big bucks because of the Halloween holiday? It sure did not.

If you laugh until your stomache hurts at these guys on MTV, plan on having a stomachache leaving the theater. Each stunt and prank is now uncensored; for any "Jackass" lover, this adds to the comedy.

The film has no plot. The opening scene shows the crew in an oversized shopping cart rolling down what appears to be a bridge with bricks exploding on either side of them. As the bricks explode and knock the guys over their heads, they proceed to punch each other in the face and throw each other out of the cart. Typical, but something to keep in mind as you watch the ending.

After the opening, the movie falls in line with the 30-minute television series on MTV. Prank after endless prank is pulled. In the first prank, Knoxville rents a car from a rental agency and proceeds to take it and crash into other cars in an arena. He bangs up the car until it is almost unrecognizable, then takes it back to the agency, refuses to pay for the damages and tells the worker in charge that the rental agency should be thankful that he has brought the car back with half a tank of gas.

These guys are actually pulling dangerous stunts that put their lives at risk for our entertainment. It is hard to believe that getting a concussion from flipping a golf cart over while running into oversized toy animals could be fun. But Knoxville leaves the scene laughing, holding his stomach in pain and seemingly having the time of his life.

Knoxville does have to visit the hospital because of his stunt with world champion boxer "Butterbean." A fake boxing match occurs in a Japanese store that leads to another concussion and Knoxville having to have his head stitched, which of course, is shown close-up for more gross-out humor.

A lot of the pranks from the movie are from the "Jackass" clan's tour in Japan. Chris "Partyboy" Pontias assaults a Japanese salesman in the street after he pulls his signature move of pulling off his pants and dancing around in his thong to his "party music." The clan also dresses up as pandas and runs around the streets of Japan knocking each other into trash cans.

Jason "Wee Man" Acuna makes the crowd burst out with laughter as the clan asks him to kick himself in the head. Steve-O tightropes across a waterhole full of hungry alligators with a handful of raw chicken stuck in his underpants.

Eating a snowball full of urine, attaching a bungee cord to their underpants, jumping out of a tree and strapping bottle rockets to their skates are a few more of the insane and dangerous stunts these guys pull.

As the show ends, it reverts back to the beginning with the guys running through explosions of bricks, except this time they are shown as old men still knocking each other around. The explosions take them out one by one until the comedy is finally over.

I cannot deny that I loved the movie. The kid in me came out as I watched the outlandish and foolish pranks. Not only did I have tears running down my face at times, but also my stomach did hurt from laughing so hard as I left the theater. It seems that everyone else at the show felt the same as hoops, hollers and claps were heard throughout the theater.

Therefore, if you are into guys sticking odd things up their derrieres, hurling themselves into walls and off buildings and jumping into raw sewage, then "Jackass: The Movie" is the film for you. If you are not into this kind of humor please do not waste your money. For those interested, this movie offers public displays of juvenile acts and bathroom humor.

This movie was directed by Jeff Tremaine and produced by Spike Jonze, Jeff Tremaine and Johnny Knoxville. It is released by MTV Films and Paramount Pictures. The film is rated R.

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