Ever since Jackass’ inception back in 2000, the crew have filmed more gags, skits and pranks than they actually have room for in the movies, which means a lot of footage never makes the final cut. For whatever reason, they were deemed not funny enough, not clever enough or just plain uninteresting. But to make use of this material and ‘give the fans what they want’, they started releasing the .5 movies, which are nothing more than glorified making of documentaries talking about the footage that was not good enough for the final product.
Last year saw Jackass depart from their usual stunt mentality to create their first movie-of-sorts with Jackass Presents Bad Grampa and, now following tradition, they’ve giving us Jackass Presents Bad Grampa .5 – and it’s exactly what you’d expect: a glorified making of that would be a special feature on any other DVD.
The movie’s director Jeff Tremaine, its star Johnny Knoxville and writer/producer Spike Jonze are the main talking heads of this film, and the trio do a fairly good job of keeping the documentary moving. They give detailed reasons as to why certain skits or pranks didn’t make it into the movie and even give insights into the aftermath of a prank where they have to ask people to sign a release form. Some people react well while others don’t, and in these moments the “movie” is relatively interesting and there is a humorous moment where a prank goes horribly wrong with the target recognising Knoxville, prompting the star to say, “even after all this time, we still get it wrong”. When they’re not showing rejected skits and they’re talking about the actual making of the movie, Jackass Presents Bad Grampa .5 is actually somewhat interesting. But, these moments are few and far between.
Really, this production exists simply because they filmed so much material and created an entire subplot (with Spike Jonze taking on the role of Gloria, a character they first debuted back in Jackass Number Two). As all of Gloria’s scenes were cut from the movie so we get to see them here with commentary from Knoxville, Tremaine and Jonze himself. It is very surreal to see a visionary genius director like Jonze (who recently wowed audiences with the tremendous Her) act like such a goofball and talking like a dominant grandmother to a real-life pervert on the phone who was looking to get off. Her other scenes centre around what you’d expect – sex jokes, breast milk, obscene nudity etc. To say it’s not funny would be unfair, but it’s clear why this stuff was cut. No matter how good the make-up is, or how hard Jonze tries, he is a man in drag and the targets of their pranks can usually see through it.
There really isn’t much to say about the rest of the cut scenes from the movie to be honest. Some are funny, some are a failure. Knoxville’s Irving Zisman convincing gardeners to help him bury his dead wife in the back garden provides a few chuckles, but it’s evident why they were left on the cutting room floor. Aside from the Gloria scenes and the claim of 40-minutes of unseen material, nothing feels new in Jackass Presents Bad Grampa .5. It’s just more of the same: crude humour, tasteless pranks, bad language, etc.
It does have its fair share of laughs, and if you grew up with the Jackass series as part of your teenage years then there is a certain level of nostalgia for it, but there really isn’t a lot to say about Jackass Presents Bad Grampa .5. Fans of the movie might get a kick from the extra material, but at the end of the day this is a making of special feature that someone pressed to a DVD disc and is palming it off as a “movie”. This will play to an audience, but it’s a mostly pointless endeavour.
