Jackass Forever effortlessly invigorates its own relevance in pop culture

Jackass Forever, reviewed by Tom Cairns

Image Credit: Property of Paramount Pictures, Dickhouse Productions

If you’re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

Jackass Forever, the fourth instalment in the multi-decade slapstick franchise has finally hit our cinemas. Produced once again by Jeff Tremaine, Spike Jonze and Johnny Knoxville, the films sees many of the faces we’ve come to love return but with added newcomers bringing new life to the formula.

Like many my age, my first exposure to Jackass was not from a cinematic experience, but from late night airings of Wildboyz, Viva La Bam and reruns of the much lower budget serialised iteration of Jackass. The shows and the handful of recurring personalities that starred in them always pushed the boundaries of not only their bodies and sense of humour, but also what could be considered a stunt. This format organically splits the pool of consciousness around Jackass into two polarising categories; people who love Jackass and people who have absolute zero interest in Jackass.

After 12 long years since Jackass 3D, news of another Jackass film led to many conflicting, but justified questions. Most important being, can Jackass still be fresh and funny in 2022? I won’t get deep into my concerns with the updates we received as fans, however – I had my reservations going in. Armed with the bitter realisation this would be my first (and potentially only) opportunity to see a new Jackass film in theatres, I was going to see this film.

Long, Green and Scaley

Jackass Forever follows suite from its predecessors and opens with a large-scale set piece, this time though no oversized shopping carts, no suburban running of the bulls and no two footed kicks to the face. Jackass Forever decides to turn the ambition, narrative, and sheer ridiculousness up to 11 with a tribute to Japanese Kaiju films. One by one the members of the cast are introduced as the Godzilla-like terror reigns havoc on the civilians, Steve-O as a construction worker is launched in a porta potty and Wee Man and Dave England are blasted by the Kaijus atomic breath.

If the viewer hadn’t already managed to notice through their laughter, the narrative breaks for a moment to introduce Chris Pontius puppeteering the razor toothed Kaiju in what can only be called an exercise in perfect casting. The scenes in the montage are largely referencing Jackass stunts of the past, but the whole sequence is tied together with a sense of theatrical narrative we’ve previously not seen in Jackass. Not to say there isn’t a lot of new stuff in this film, but a larger theme in this effort is taking some of the old concepts they know work, and finding ways to bring new life to them. Either way, by the time Johnny Knoxville utters the words we’ve waited over 10 years to hear, you will surely know whether you’re invested in the next hour and thirty minutes or not.

Hi I’m Johnny Knoxville and welcome to Jackass

From the get go I was apprehensive to see how the new cast would fit in. I did as little research on the new cast members as possible before my viewing to ensure all my conclusions would be made as a reaction to the performances in the film. What I did hear before going in was some of the new cast members had found fame through viral videos on social media, to which the worst part of my brain (the shallowest part) decided to make judgements before the film had come out.

The first sketch, appropriately titled Human Ramp, sees several members of the cast pile on top of each other with (you guessed it!) a ramp placed on top of them, followed by David Gravette and Aaron Homoki riding bikes and skateboards over the guys aiming to clear the gap. It’s a simple formula that never fails to trigger your Jackass nostalgia, skateboards, a blistering soundtrack, and the sounds of laughter at the casts expense. The chemistry is electric from the word go and the new cast members feel like an organic part of the crew, embracing each other in fear, it feels oddly poetic that this is the first full clip we see of the updated Jackass family.

What follows feels like a perfect jumping off point for returning fans and new fans.

Forever in particular feels like they’ve managed to strike the perfect balance between slapstick shorts (one particularly Looney Toons inspired sketch being a personal highlight), knife twisting double crosses, high stakes stunts and the face turning wince inducing efforts inflicted on themselves and each other in what feels like an absolute breeze. The film is done and dusted in its 96-minute run time and without a doubt leaves you wanting more come the credit roll.

Four films in and years and years of torturing each other, this cast and crew have perfected the art of executing a Jackass production.

WARNING, the stunts in this movie were performed by professionals..

Though sometimes feeling like a younger mirror for some classic cast members, its obvious the newcomers have entered the fold as Jackass fans themselves and understand what is trying to be achieved. They never demand screentime and are never as obnoxious as some of the classic cast were in their youth. Instead, we see potentially what a more refined iteration of Jackass could look like – learning from the mistakes of excess of the old.

It’s not difficult to see why bringing in some fresh faces is such a good idea this far down the Jackass timeline. To paraphrase Danny Glover in another 4-feature franchise:

“we’re getting too old for this sh*t!”

Knoxville has openly said this will be his last contribution to the Jackass franchise and if this is to be the swan song, then they have for sure earned their rest. Both Knoxville and Steve-O were admitted to hospital during the production and as Knoxville admits, there are only so many chances you can take before something irreversible happens. With this in mind, its more noticeable that to lighten the load, some of the main cast manage to save themselves from some of the smaller stunts to allow themselves to dip their toes into the extremities of the wilder stunts.

Knoxville still appears heavily in the practical stunts, dangling from electrical wires and crashing through ceilings as Irving Zissman and Steve-O still seems game as ever to launch himself into the firing line of whatever comes. Ehren McGhehey has never stricken me as a fan favourite, but a special mention is more than earned for basically being Jackass Forevers punching bag.

When you get knocked down you gotta get back up

If I was to have any bone to pick, it would be that the ending didn’t really feel like such, but how could it with the absence of the eternally flamboyant Rip Taylor who unfortunately passed in 2019.

On paper this film had so much working against it and despite that, Jackass Forever effortlessly invigorates its own relevance in pop culture and lovingly provides a safe stage for the next iteration of what this franchise may bring. Part of me wants that to be a bookend on the series, a tribute to the past of the franchise and the life of Ryan Dunn. But after this film I can’t help but see a future where the original cast slowly take a step back and provide a platform for the independent performers this very franchise has inspired.

Jackass Forever is a masterclass in putting maturity back into immature acts. The feature is a cringe inducing, unbelievably stupid, gut wrenchingly hilarious rollercoaster and serves as their strongest effort to date.

Jackass Forever is rated 18 in the UK and is available to watch in Cinemas now.