How intelligence deprived Steve-O (also known as Stephen Glover) and his posse of similarly handicapped hooligans haven´t killed themselves or ended up in traction for prolonged periods of time is beyond me. I mean, if they aren´t setting their hair on fire or stapling a scrotom to a thigh, producer/director Nick Dunlap is getting drunk in an outdoor bar and trashing the place. Or they´re defecating outside a hotel room door, allowing one of their own to walk through the mess. Or Steve-O is puking up…well, the less you know, the better.
After sitting through this third volume of "crap" (hey, that´s what they call it on the back of the DVD), I can´t for the life of me figure out why anyone would voluntarily take part in these stunts, let alone revel in their depravity. I mean, there´s no point to anything in the entire 92 minutes except to see how profane, obscene, maliciously destructive, immature, sophomoric and asinine a group of grown men can be. The late, great performer Evel Knievel is Shakespeare compared to the stunts Steve-O pulls.
The problem is they aren´t funny to watch. Throwing a hotel room phone out the window, breaking a beer can on his head, getting into a fight with a supposed friend…these are sadistic actions catering to the lowest common denominator in society. I hesitate to use the term "trailer trash" because: (1) it´s offensive to people who might live in a trailer; and (2) Steve-O isn´t even good enough for Cletus and Brandeen from "The Simpsons." All I kept asking myself was why.
Why are arenas and venues packed for each show around the world? Why do women lift their shirts, exposing their breasts, for these guys (none of which are attractive)? Why in the world do parents bring their school age children to a show and then sit in utter disbelief about the antics without doing a thing? And, for god sakes, how many times do we need to see Steve-O playing with his feces?
Maybe I´m going about this all wrong. Maybe the idea isn´t to hold Steve-O to everyone else´s standard, but to create a new standard FOR him. Just how filthy and vile can the stunts get while retaining some kind of audience? Clearly, from what we have here, audiences clamor for all the raunch they can get.
I guess the above question can be distilled down to one central premise: is Steve-O any more offensive in his day than Richard Pryor was in his? Or George Carlin? That is to say, can Mr. Glover get away with the things he does because of the times in which he lives? In our modern age of video on demand and YouTube, can´t an argument be made Steve-O and "Jackass" are simple extensions of technology? As in, we´ve entered a time in our culture when things are done not because they are good ideas, but because we can?
It is, alas, one of the downfalls to having a free media and the first amendment. A citizen can be offended all they want by an action or word, but until a second person is physically harmed, nothing can be done. And "Out on Bail Volume III" makes sure no bystander is hurt in the antics. In that respect, then, Steve-O is commendable. Not to mention he´s not the one destroying other people´s property for no reason. Those ignominious acts are committed by his cohorts. Really, Steve-O doesn´t hurt other people, only himself.
Let me be clear: that doesn´t excuse him from not chastising Ryan Dunn, Dunlap and the others. As the ringleader, so to speak, he has the responsibility on his shoulders for everything happening in his name. If these dopes want to hurt themselves and throw urine on one another, feel free. No one, outside those involved, gets hurt. But when property is destroyed for no good reason without any sense of remorse, people do get hurt. And that´s the sad part. Consequences never cross anyone´s mind while engaging in tomfoolery.
This video was filmed while the group was on a tour of Scandinavia and other parts of Europe. (Some sequences were filmed in the United States.) Not that it matters, honestly. I can´t imagine the act would change depending on the audience; in fact, the behavior we see in Spring Break and in Oslo, Norway, is nearly identical. Meaning, to me at least, there is a distinct lack of creativity and invention surrounding what they do. Instead of tailoring the obscenity, everyone gets exactly the same schtick. It´s lazy, to be blunt.
VIDEO:
For a production shot while on the fly, the full frame transfer doesn´t look half bad. Early on, there is a major blocking issue but it disappears very quickly. The rest of the feature looks as low budget and homemade as it inevitably is. Colors are washed out in a lot of scenes, low light hampers fine detail…but the result is alright. It fits the subject matter and I can´t find fault in that.
AUDIO:
This is a pleasant surprise, honestly. The box lists only an English mono track; it turns out to be more dynamic and deep than I had any reason to expect. The speakers are given enough to do, always putting its best foot forward without distortion. It´s a pity; the subject matter doesn´t deserve anything this good. (Using the display button on my PS3 remote, 2 channel pops up. Sorting out the true audio option would require effort and, I don´t know, actually caring about the final answer. I have zero interest. Eh, whatever.)
EXTRAS:
Yes, Virginia, there are bonus features here. On the first disc (and yes, there is a second disc, too) are a collection of the boys trashing various hotel rooms-four, to be exact. Then there´s three deleted scenes of more debauchery, including wedgies, shooting Steve-O in the bare ass with a gun and more fisticuffs. A blessedly short making of featurette (hey, it´s their title, not mine) rounds out the extras. All told, they run a whopping 20:09. A tag is added to the end of the feature highlighting skateboarding prodigy/legend/innovator/whatever Ryan Simmonetti. It´s repeated here for some reason. I don´t get it.
Disc two houses the hilarious 33 minute feature "Steve-O: PCP Saved My Life." Yes, my friends, our beloved master of ceremonies tripped out on PCP for five days and filmed it. To tell you how much I didn´t care by this point, I played all 33 minutes at 10 times normal speed, only to watch the program for the final minute or so. He claims he won´t do the drug again unless, of course, the DVD sells well…at which time he´ll do more!
PARTING THOUGHTS:
Apparently, this same exact disc was released back in 2003. From the reviews I´ve checked out, it´s the same content, same bonus features, same tech specs, same cover art. What happened between that release and this one I don´t know. And, quite honestly, I don´t much care. I think by now I´m out of adjectives to describe the mind numbing, bottom of the barrel scraping, vomit inducing steaming pile of excrement on this two disc set. To see grown up men acting like buffoons doesn´t bode well for the future of the human race.