It’s been 20 years since the first Jackass movie was released—even longer if you’re counting the TV show—and for those of us who grew up watching this group of guys prank and pummel each other for our entertainment, they hold a special place in our pop culture consciousness. I remember rushing to go to school to talk to my friends about our favorite stunts, rank the movies, and despite the infamous warning before each film, try and film stunts of our own.
Jackass 2 heightened the danger and elaborateness of the pranks and for my money is still the franchises’ crowning achievement, and Jackass 3D brought new life to the tired 3D trend that was happening at the time with new ways to bring bodily fluids, dongs, and dildos through the screen. The closing credits of Jackass 3D (2010) showed childhood photos and old videos of the entire cast, and it seemed like at the time that that was a soft goodbye on the series, especially with Ryan Dunn’s passing a year later in a drunk driving accident. But equipped with a new cast of younger stars like Zach Holmes, Jasper Dolphin (and his dad Dark Shark), a man simply named Poopies, Rachel Wolfson, and guest appearances from rappers Machine Gun Kelly and Tyler, The Creator, Jackass Forever is a legacy sequel where they acknowledge that now this is probably the last time Johnny Knoxville and company will return as they reached dangerous new highs…or lows, depending on how you feel about these movies.
The film is dedicated to Ryan Dunn, and Bam Margera is also not in the movie due to ongoing legal issues between him, director Jeff Tremaine, and the cast stemming from his substance abuse issues and rehabilitation. I was genuinely curious to see if they could match the tone of the previous entires with the absence of those two, and by association Bam’s parents who always made memorable appearances as well. The tone is different to be sure, but they still capture the same raunchy energy and curiosity that has gotten them this far.
3D previously held the record for most penises on screen, and yet somehow they have what feels like twice as many hits to the male genitalia in Forever, including the opening homage to Godzilla with a scorpion, sandals, punches to the groin, a hockey puck, a softball, a pogo stick, a swarm of bees and a turning of the penis into a paddle ball device. For some, this will immediately be a line that they won’t want to cross and I must admit that even after binging all of the previous movies that this one’s persistent abuse of the male member made me the most viscerally squeemish. As a former soccer player who has taken his fair share of accidental balls to the nuts I was right there with Danger Ehren as he was writhing around in pain after a heavy weight UFC fighter jabs his gonads with the force of a truck; and the extreme nature of the stunts doesn’t end there.
Jackass Forever also has an abundance of dangerous animals like a bull, vulture, tarantula, rattle snake, bear, and scorpion that create some of the most tense moments of the film as half of the time the performers are tied down or incapacitated in some way, and the others are willingly putting their body on the line for the footage. Newcomers Rachel Wolfson and Poopies go toe to toe with Steve-O in a silent game with deadly animals, and Danger Ehren faces off against Dark Shark with a tarantula in the mix.
It is clear that the filmmakers are not taking it easy on the newcomers and they’re all game to play. Zach Holmes’ massive size seems to make him the new Preston Lacey of the group and just watching him gleefully hurl himself into cacti in slow motion and then getting up to smile with his missing tooth was a funny visual element throughout. Speaking of size, Wee Man has possibly my favorite stunt in the entire movie and it is also due to how he gets flipped in the air in slow motion.
Lead man Johnny Knoxville takes quite a beating in the movie and some of the legacy cast members get a chance to recreate some of their signature stunts which was a nice touch. Chris Pontius’ color commentary continues to entertain as does Johnny Knoxville’s raucus laughter. He might have the most iconic funny man laugh next to Seth Rogan. While Dark Shark was involved in a few pranks, seeing a dad be uncomfortable is only funny for a few moments and they dragged some of his scenes on too long.
I guess that would be my biggest complaint overall is that while this movie has the most danger and pain out of the franchise, that didn’t always equal laughs, and this would probably rank in last place if I had to rank all four movies. That being said, there isn’t a bad movie in the bunch as they consistently entertain with unique pranks that have provided some of the biggest laughs I’ve ever had from a movie franchise. Like the closing credits of the first Jackass movie where they are all in old-age makeup, Jackass Forever proves that there is no age limit to laughing with friends, no matter how you accomplish that.
Final Rating:
