I am venturing into Reynolds territory, so I’ll keep this brief and hope he brings some clarity to the role that comedy plays in rendering certain kinds of social relationship visible. A few years ago I went with a few friends to see ‘Jackass’ and it generated a discussion of the difference between being a jackass and being an asshole. That first ‘Jackass’ movie, for all the incredibly stupid stunts, did a good job of illustrating the difference. There was a scene in which the crew race golf carts, and they are jackasses, while the golfers are clearly assholes. Several of the bits were also just hilariously funny.
So the same group of friends went to see ‘Jackass 2’ last night and — surprise! — they are now mostly assholes. There are still some mind-blowingly funny sequences, of which the penis sock puppet and the snake, drinking horse semen, and “the gauntlet” are the best. But the real joy of the stunts has been replaced with a mildly sadistic desire to hurt each other. The key line in the movie is: “was the dick hair really necessary?” It addresses what, ultimately, makes a stunt funny. In that case, the dick hair was actually necessary.