Drivel is the word Greg Boardman used to describe box-office leader "Jackass 2" and "Beerfest."

    "Jackass" features Johnny Knoxville and his gang performing crazy stunts often involving self-inflicted pain; "Beerfest" revolves around fictional siblings who participate in an Olympics-style drinking competition.

    "The movies are so bad and I don't need the money ... I just didn't think I should use my high-quality facilities to show people vomiting on screen," said Boardman, whose theaters boast a high-tech, eight-channel digital sound system.

    Boardman grew up near Hoopeston but now runs his theaters from his home near Fresno, Calif. He says shutting down the theaters was based strictly on his personal standards, not censorship or an effort to shelter people in the small town.

    Boardman's protest had some people cheering, others jeering.

    "They're not appropriate for really anybody, but I sure wouldn't let my kids go into one of them. Those are his convictions and he needs to stand by them," said Steve Lloyd, 59, of nearby Rossville

    P.J. Clingenpeel, a Hoopeston native, said the two-week shutdown only hurt children in this town where Boardman's movie houses and a skating rink are about all they have to do outside of school and sports.

    "All he did was ruin a lot of kids'weekends. That's why I think he's a crybaby," said Clingenpeel, a 30-year-old welder.

    The 84-year-old, 500-seat Lorraine theater in downtown Hoopeston reopened Friday, showing Disney's football biopic "Invincible," while an 85-seat sister theater down the street showed Sony's animated kids movie "Open Season."

    Boardman says he's sorry that darkened screens cut into the town's limited entertainment options. But he says he'll shut down again if faced with a similar batch of films, adding that contractual issues with the studios ¡ª such as guarantees on first-week receipts ¡ª sometimes limit his options.

    "There are enough theaters carrying movies like "Jackass" that if people want to see them they can. The problem now is that there are too few good movies, movies that transplant you to another place," Boardman said in a telephone interview.

    "I think it was a good idea to close until he had something worth seeing," said Myra Goodrum, 51, a bus driver for Hoopeston schools. "If they made more good movies, more families would go. But I doubt Hollywood's going to notice us. We're just kind of a hole in the wall." Enditem

    (Agencies)