Diatribes on the downfall of society are easy to write. There's just way too much about the world today that's gone to the dogs to not scrawl out paragraph after paragraph bad-mouthing the dregs of society and their ever-extending influence on us physically, mentally and culturally.

Anyone who is so self-important that they think they can mend society through ranting about the downfall of humanity through the loss of art and culture shouldn't see this movie.

Jackass: Number Two is fantastically entertaining. That's all that can be said about this movie.

There is no premise to the movie besides documenting foolish and harmful stunts for the sole purpose of having you enjoy someone else's pain.

Escapism in humor is key here, as the cast doesn't expect anything from their audience.

"Let's just do it, it's footage," Johnny Knoxville says, imploring cast-members Ryan Dunn and Bam Margera to, without any protective covering, step in front of a ballistics breaching device that shoots out several hundred pellets capable of weakening a wall.

The movie starts out with Ennio Morricone's epic theme from the classic western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as the entire cast bursts through a cloud of smoke, running through a residential street being chased by a charging herd of bulls.

The slow-motion opening shot shows the fear in every single one of their eyes, but all of them are holding back ear to ear grins.

They know they're doing something really asinine, but it's all for a personal adrenaline rush and for your movie-going enjoyment.

The score of the scene sets the precedent, as for the next 90 minutes the audience is bombarded with things good (hilarious comedy) bad (bruises and burns) and ugly (male nudity, vomit, and/or other body fluids).

Stunts include normal fare, such as putting hands in bear traps, catapulting the infamous shopping cart, and seesawing in a rodeo with more angry bulls. Then there is Steve-O, who participates in the more disgusting stunts in the movie, which include attaching a leech to his eye, putting a fishing hook through his cheek, and -- yes people -- using a beer bong as an enema. If there was any doubt before, this movie confirms that Steve-O is pretty much the worst human being on the planet.

He isn't the spawn of Satan or even inherently mean to other people, he just doesn't seem to care for qualities that are human and takes his body for granted.

Some say this type of humor is sophomoric or even downright offensive and shouldn't be wasted on the film medium. But the entire production is surrounded with an air of self-awareness and is smartly executed.

Knoxville, Margera and company have been in the self-mutilation business long enough to know what can gross you out enough to lose faith in the bounds of human decency can also make you fall out of your seat laughing.

It's almost as if with every bruise earned from a stunt, gross-out gag or pratfall there is an intrinsic educational value on safety earned by the audience.

This is a safety movie on steroids, except there are no dummies and no limit to how far a trick will go.

This is perfectly encapsulated in the aforementioned seesaw sequence where Knoxville, Dunn, Margera and Chris "Partyboy" Pontius are on a four-man seesaw and are avoiding a bucking bull by respectively pushing themselves skyward as the bull passes under.

The segment is setup as a competition between the four, and by the end Knoxville wins.

Despite already winning, he still tries desperately to stay on without any counter-balance from his now departed cast-mates.

He is smart enough to know it will be funnier if he makes the stunt last as long as possible, but crazy enough to let the bull make pass after pass, knocking him about as he declares "I'm still on! I'm still on!"

Bottom line: yes it's gross, obnoxious and disturbing, but it's still funny as hell.

Grade: A