Jackass Forever
Every time I come close to regaining my faith in humanity, this film has to once again remind you idiots of the obvious to not try any of this at home.
Cast of Characters:
Johnny Knoxville – Himself
Steve-O – Himself
Chris Pontius – Himself
Dave England – Himself
Jason “Wee Man” Acuna – Himself
“Danger Ehren” McGhehey – Himself
Preston Lacy – Himself
Sean “Poopies” McInerney – Himself
Jasper Dolphin – Himself
Zach Holmes – Himself
Rachel Wolfson – Herself
Eric Manaka – Himself
Director – Jeff Tremaine
Based on the television series Jackass created by Jeff Tremaine, Spike Jonze & Johnny Knoxville
Producer – Jeff Tremaine, Spike Jonze & Johnny Knoxville
Distributor – Paramount Pictures
Rated R for strong crude material and dangerous stunts, graphic nudity and language throughout.
The Rundown: After years of being apart, best friends forever Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Wee Man and others reunite for a joyous celebration of renewed friendship, camaraderie, brotherly love, precious memories, and…
Hi-YAH!!!! A good, hard punch to the dick, shit brick! Welcome to Jackass, mother fucker – YEEEEEEEE-HAAAAWWWW!!!!!!!!
Pre-Release Buzz: Word of a fourth Jackass film started circulating around 2018 when star and series co-creator Johnny Knoxville said in an interview that he’d be open to doing another film that could include some new cast members as a means of injecting some fresh blood into the franchise. After Knoxville met with director and fellow co-creator Jeff Tremaine and brought back the original team for a few days of filming to see if making a new film was worth the time, effort, and, of course, the physical toll, everyone came to an agreement on a fourth entry.
One notable headache along the way, though, was the public feuding between former star Bam Margera and both Tremaine and Knoxville. Alleging that Paramount deemed him a liability due to his litany of off-set, personal issues, Margera took the rational, high road by airing out all his dirty laundry on his social media accounts, while also throwing Tremaine, Knoxville and co-producer/co-creator Spike Jonze under the bus. This led to multiple restraining orders filed by Tremaine, which Margera then returned fire with a wrongful termination lawsuit against the three as well as Paramount Pictures, MTV, Dickhouse Productions and Gorilla Flicks.
So, long story short, if you’re wondering why Margera only appears for one brief scene – well, now you know why.
Even with all that legal headache going on and then the COVID setbacks, Jackass Forever has now finally managed to make its way to the big screen, coming 12 years after the last sequel, Jackass 3D, and 20 years after the first film. So, does team Jackass still have more of the chaotic magic left or has the novelty fizzled out by now?
The Good: Look, you know me. I’m the biggest champion of Terrence Malick, Lars von Trier, Ari Aster, elevated horror, the artsiest-fartsiest, foreign language, art-house gobbledygook imaginable. Yet, damn it all, I find these insane films enjoyable. I was never really a fan of the show when it was on TV during my high school years, but it was the second film in 2006 that made me a believer. I don’t know what it was, but I laughed my ass off watching grown-ass men intentionally hurt themselves. With Jackass Forever, I, once again, found myself laughing my ass off watching these now middle-aged grown-ass men continue to intentionally hurt themselves.
Just think, these men are now closer in age to team AARP than team Jackass when it first began, and here they are still doing this gonzo shit to each other.
And God bless each and every one of them for it.
Seriously, don’t try any of that at home. The fact that they have to remind you of that every single time makes me think less of you than of them.
I get it. These movies are basically critic proof. What the hell could I possibly critique here? “Well – harrumph – I personally felt that Danger Ehren’s reaction to getting nailed in the ball-sack by a 70 mph softball pitch lacked the proper emotional resonance needed to convincingly convey the true essence of pain and grief.” This type of film literally has one job to do and that’s it: Does it make you laugh or not? By that measure, the film succeeds.
As the late, great Roger Ebert once stated, “It’s not what a movie is about, it’s how it is about it.”
Being that this is a Jackass film, Forever relies on a lot of the franchise’s familiar tricks and stunts, maybe even a little bit to a fault. You know the drill – expect bodies flailing, animals biting and nuts being kicked at, and in regard to the latter, let me just say if you’re averse to seeing onscreen genitalia then you may wanna see yourself out. This film is an entire sausage fest and a half, and those poor peckers take a tougher beating than they’ve ever received in the prior films (there’s a lot I can handle, but I’ll admit one stunt got me wincing pretty hard). To the team’s credit, though, it’s not all about pain and gain. One of the film’s highlights is “The Silence of the Lambs” – a riotously funny and highly-elaborate segment involving a dark room where the gag actually relies on psychological torture as opposed to physical torture. Cruel? Most definitely, but still funny.
While the franchise’s novelty isn’t what it once was, Forever does provide a little bit of freshness in treating us to new faces on the team, which was, as stated previously, Knoxville’s desire from the start of this film being proposed. The new players – Sean “Poopies” McInerney, Jasper Dolphin (whose father also makes an appearance), Zach Holmes, Rachel Wolfson (the first female Jackass member) and Eric Manaka – are all game for taking every kick, punch, bite and blow that’s thrown at them, most notably Wolfson, who’s welcomed into the all-boys club with open arms as she handles everything from licked tasers to scorpion bites like a champ. Plus, there is something mildly heartwarming, in a twisted way, about seeing this new, younger generation of Jackass stars interacting alongside the franchise’s longtime veterans with the same level of awe and admiration they had while growing up watching them in their heyday.
As Poopies says, “I’ve been watching Jackass since I was twelve years old, and guess what… we’re here!”
You might be wondering if I’m a bit of a hypocrite in the way I slam the Happy Madison films for being juvenile trash, but let me explain. For starters, Jackass doesn’t pretend to be something that it isn’t. It’s exactly what it guarantees on the box and nothing more, whereas Happy Madison is crude to the nth degree all the way up to the point it somehow gets the balls to then throw a bull shit lecture at us about how being crude is wrong and “fAmIlY iS iMpOrTaNt”. Say what you want about Jackass, but they at least stick to their convictions. Second, and this is what really gets to the heart of what has made Jackass work, Happy Madison films are just joyless experiences that look like everyone involved had just as joyless of a time making them. Here, there’s a true, genuine feeling of camaraderie throughout that gives Jackass its own weird, gonzo sense of charm. Amid all the highly dangerous gags and worries that the next stunt might as well be who can jump in the ICU bed the fastest, you can totally feel the love and warmth these guys have for each other, and that goes a long way in giving this film its wildly bat-shit sense of fun. Yeah, they’re beating each other up, but like the toughest brotherly bonds, when the agonized groans die down, there’s nothing but laughs and affection between everyone.
Odd as it may sound, there is something about hearing Johnny Knoxville excitedly say for, reportedly, the last time, “Hello, I’m Johnny Knoxville and welcome to Jackass!” that’s strangely comforting and brought a smile to my face. It’s as if he’s once more letting us partake in their own little club… minus the concussions that come with it.
And, honestly, if seeing Steve-O get a massive swarm of bees wrapped around his dick doesn’t warm the – uh – cockles of your heart, then I don’t know what to tell ya.
The Bad: Again, these films are pretty much critic proof, but like a lot of movies that are about throwing anything and everything at the wall to see what will stick, some of the gags don’t hit as well as others. This is mostly the case in some sketches that are repeats from prior entries. Though there are a few exceptions, chief among them the nut cup test that brings back the sketch from the original TV series (this time featuring Danger Ehren instead of Knoxville) and dials it up to 11, most of them feel a bit rehashed.
Still, for being a medium of comedy that tends to be hit-or-miss, Forever, fortunately, hits more than it misses.
The Ugly: I won’t go into detail, but – uh – let’s just say you will never be able to look at a paddle ball toy the same again.
…
Ever.
Consensus: Very much needless to say, Jackass Forever is a case of being not for everyone, with the gang showing they are still every bit as lewd, crude and unabashedly shameless as they were when they first began, but it’s hard not to get caught up in their infectiously gleeful mayhem to where you’re laughing right along with them.
Silver Screen Fanatic’s Verdict: I give Jackass Forever a B (★★★).
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