Universal Music & VI, 2004 MPAA Rating: (not rated: contains explicit language) Starring: Ralphie May Film Rating: Three-and-a-Half Stars Audio/Visual Rating: Three Stars SpecialFeatures: Deleted scenes, photo gallery
After receiving much heat from the public, who felt the show was a dangerous influence on children and young adults, MTV pulled the plug on the highly successful and controversial show “Jackass.” For those of you not familiar with “Jackass,” it was a half-hour collage of stunts, pranks and general mayhem filmed by a group of twenty- and thirtysomethings. “Do Not Attempt This at Home” warnings were plastered all over the show, but still there were several youths who were injured and one who was killed doing stunts that many critics believe were inspired by things that the kids had seen on “Jackass.” With the show off of MTV, the “Jackass” crew needed a new venue to display their talents. The movie theaters of America provided them that opportunity and allowed even more freedom to get raunchier, filthier and more crazy with their gags and stunts. With an R rating and a huge promotional push from MTV and Paramount, “Jackass,” to the delight of fans and the dismay of right-wing religious groups, became the #1 box office hit in late October of 2002.
From the moment I heard about the “Jackass” movie, I knew that this film was going to be better suited for DVD than the big screen. How did I know this in advance? When bringing this movie to theaters, everyone involved with the film knew that they had to keep it short and sweet. The gross-out and shock factor was sure to be high and if the “Jackass” movie had a total running time over 90 minutes (it came it at a tidy 84 minutes), it would have been just too much for moviegoers who were dragged in to see it with their gung-ho “Jackass” fan friends. With this type of film, it’s obvious that there must have been countless hours of footage that were left out. Now, with the DVD release of “Jackass,” we get a chance to see some of the segments that were cut out either because they were too intense, too gross, too offensive or just not funny enough for the film.
For those of you who are not familiar with Ralphie May, his act can be summed up simply as “a fat white guy from the South moves to the ghetto in Los Angeles and hijinks ensue.” Living amongst a multitude of ethnicities in the most diverse city in the world, May pokes fun at blacks, whites, Latinos, gays and just about every other minority group, yet it’s obvious that he’s not coming from a place of anger. His comedy hits you in the face, then he steps back and literally tells the audience in a bold manner, “Lighten up, it’s a fu**ing joke!”
Just Correct, May’s first stand-up comedy DVD, was filmed live at the famous Laugh Factory on the Sunset Strip. Along with the Comedy Store down the street on Sunset and the Melrose Ave. Improv, Los Angeles has long been one of the best places for stand-up comedians to be seen by real talent scouts. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Richard Pryor, Andrew Dice Clay and countless other stand-up comedians, who went on to much bigger and better things, cut their teeth on the sometimes mean stages of these clubs. May has been on the stand-up circuit for quite some time, yet his recent exposure on NBC and ABC no doubt helped get the suits at Universal excited about releasing his comedy DVD.
The title “Just Correct” comes from the main theme of his act on the DVD. Rather than be politically correct, Ralphie has decided that he wants to be “Just correct” and tell things like they are. The comedy is very timely as he has bits about Kobe Bryant, Siegfried and Roy and Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston. These are all very funny, but it’s his impression of a hard-core Latino gangster than shines as some of the funniest moments on the DVD. Other classic bits on the disc include May talking about ordering fast food in the ghetto, the subtle way that white people discriminate against all races and how fat people are the last group that it is seemingly okay to make fun of.
There isn’t much more to the DVD than May standing on stage doing his act and a few backstage moments, so the picture is presented in a 1.33:1 full screen aspect ratio. The blue background and May’s very large red football jersey provide a lot of visual pop. The house lights were very bright that day and you can see so much detail in the DVD that it’s actually possible to see the makeup on his face. Usually stand-up comedy videos are shot on large stages rather than at an extremely well-lit, relatively small comedy club.
Being of such girth, Ralphie does not move around on stage a lot, but his delivery is rapid fire and you get the sense that he could handle any heckler or put down “yo mamma” so fast it will make your head spin if you tried to challenge him to a verbal battle. His comedy transcends his size and you go from thinking of him as a big heavy comedian to just a funny guy on stage with a mike and some killer jokes and stories.
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After receiving much heat from the public, who felt the show was a dangerous influence on children and young adults, MTV pulled the plug on the highly successful and controversial show “Jackass.” For those of you not familiar with “Jackass,” it was a half-hour collage of stunts, pranks and general mayhem filmed by a group of twenty- and thirtysomethings. “Do Not Attempt This at Home” warnings were plastered all over the show, but still there were several youths who were injured and one who was killed doing stunts that many critics believe were inspired by things that the kids had seen on “Jackass.” With the show off of MTV, the “Jackass” crew needed a new venue to display their talents. The movie theaters of America provided them that opportunity and allowed even more freedom to get raunchier, filthier and more crazy with their gags and stunts. With an R rating and a huge promotional push from MTV and Paramount, “Jackass,” to the delight of fans and the dismay of right-wing religious groups, became the #1 box office hit in late October of 2002.
