EW review: 'Jackass' sequel a hoot

By Gregory Kirschling
Entertainment Weekly

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(Entertainment Weekly) -- The first "Jackass," released in 2002, is maybe the most laugh-out-loud, sidesplitting movie of the last couple of years.

There, I said it. I'm sorry, but trampolining into a ceiling fan is simply brilliant. It's performance art.

But, unlike most films I love, I've never been compelled to watch "Jackass" twice. A dude snorting wasabi will not pay dividends over and over again -- and therein lies one of its limitations as art. The shock is all.

"Jackass: Number Two" is not as original, aberrantly beautiful, unrepetitious, or good as "Jackass" Number One, yet it will still double a lot of people over with big laughs and grossed-out disbelief. The sequel again finds Johnny Knoxville and his cackling buddies torturing each other in tastelessly innovative ways, and even if you can't stomach (or stand) what they're up to, you still have to admit that these goons execute their gags exceptionally well.

Knoxville alone face-plants into asphalt, gets bitten by an anaconda (twice), gets gored (more than once) by a bull, drinks horse semen, punches a bear trap, and just hangs on for dear life as a big red rocket launches him high up over a lake. How -- especially after two movies -- is he or someone from his crew not dead eight times over?

Something about these movies blows my mind, and maybe it's that, as crude as they are, they make me believe in the existence of a watchful God.

EW Grade: B

'The Science of Sleep'

Reviewed by Lisa Schwarzbaum

"The Science of Sleep" is like a weird dream that tugs at the memory throughout the day with its intriguing, misshapen pieces. That is to say, the movie bears the characteristically whimsical stamp of French filmmaker, video director, and commercials pro Michel Gondry, who is never happier than when absorbed in a project where logic and proportion have fallen softly dead.

But in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," Gondry had the knife-edge wit of co-writer Charlie Kaufman's script keeping him sharp, and in "Dave Chappelle's Block Party," the director had the brilliant comedian himself.

Here, the screenplay is Gondry's own, and he reveals himself to be an incurable advocate for never-ending childhood. On cranky days, I'd call never-ending childhood a nightmare, but hey, it's his party.

For sleeper Stephane (Gael Garca Bernal, enjoying his playtime as a shy guy), dreams are a liberating contrast to his waking life as a romantically insecure fellow who toils as a graphic designer at a French office on a dysfunctional par with that of "The Office." The arrival of Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) in the apartment across the hall from his is a nice diversion, and he thinks he's attracted at first to Stephanie's party-loving friend, Zoe (Emma de Caunes), while we know it's Stephanie herself who's his match, right down to their his-and-hers names.

But Stephane is also so manically playful, immature, frightened, fey (let the beholder choose the adjective) that little dreams, little games, and little arts-and-crafts fantasies literally built of cardboard become his refuge. Dream time, it appears, is the filmmaker's own refuge, and anyone who would enter Gondry's playhouse ought to be prepared to enjoy wearing a paper party hat.

EW Grade: B-

'Flyboys'

Reviewed by Gregory Kirschling

It's been a while since the last truly rousing WWI dogfight films: "Wings" came out in 1927, "Hell's Angels" in 1930. (No, 1966's "The Blue Max" isn't good enough.) The time is ripe for a new "Red Baron" movie.

Which makes "Flyboys' " pedestrian drama -- about a group of Yanks who move to France to battle tri-wing German fighters -- and videogame lameness all the lamer: This is a lost opportunity on an epic scale. The actors are so styled and the dogfights so drippy with CG that, as a period piece, the movie almost looks like it's set in the future.

EW Grade: C-

'Renaissance'

Reviewed by Lisa Schwarzbaum

Connoisseurs of digital animation, graphic novels, and the history of dystopian art will have plenty to discuss about Christian Volckman's visually striking, technically impressive black-and-white animated feature "Renaissance," set in 2054 Paris, when advances in the field of age reversal are co-opted by corporate greed. Behold the influence of "Metropolis," "Blade Runner," "Sin City" -- and on and on.

But no one will be talking about the movie's banal plot, the trite dialogue, or any of the indistinguishable characters who offer a bleak futuristic vision of cinema that's all style, no soul.

EW Grade: C+

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