Comedies can come in all shapes and sizes. There’s the Love & Frienship type, filled with wit and erudite wordplay. There’s the romcom, silly and loving. And then there’s what legend Mel Brooks said, are those films that “rise below vulgarity.” The team in Jackass Forever would probably have a confused look on their face, and get an MMA champion to punch Mel Brooks in the balls for that comment. Losing none of their stupid genius cultivated over decades, the Forever Jackasses return with the force…of an MMA punch to the balls…and your chest, from laughing so hard.
Yes, Johnny Knoxville is back, with all his old buddies: Preston Lacy, Chris Pontius, Dave England, Danger Ehren, Wee Man, and Steve-O, 12 years after the last Jackass movie, and 20 years since the first film. They bring along some fresh blood in this one: new Jackass members Jasper Dolphin, Zach Holmes, Rachel Wolfson, and the perfectly named “Poopies,” to show what 20 years of Jackass has sprung into the ideas of Milennials/Gen Z, and also so they can maybe take part in the more dangerous of the stunts. And what a menagerie of set pieces we have, mangling dicks in about as many ways as might be humanly possible.
I continue to be amazed at the genius behind the idiocy of the Jackass crew. The opening sequence is another winner, with the guys masquerading as making a “real” Godzilla-like film….where a giant penis jizzes all over them. Underappreciated director Jeff Tremaine shoots the sequence like the talented director that he is; Zack Snyder probably stole some of Tremaine’s “fast to slow motion” cutting, which works brilliantly to capture that moment of peak fear/impact, while putting epic musical cues behind the action to confuse the audience at the fusion of high and low brow filmmaking. Tremaine adapts magnificently to capture as much humor from these demented stunts: funny pitch black darkness sequences, cinema verite style shooting to capture a cameraman throwing up, go pro cameras fastened to a tiltawhirl spinning with men who just drank a gallon of milk. There’s nothing Tremaine isn’t ready to capture at a moments notice so the audience feels like they’re laughing along with everyone in the Jackass crew, the essence of what is special about the Jackass films.
But enough already about the quality of filmmaking: this movie is gut busting hilarious, in every way, shape, and form. Props to the host of writers who came up with the demented lunacy of their scenes, including most of the cast and Oscar Winner for Best Screenplay Spike Jonze. The Silence of the Lambs sequence throws in some psychological horror with the pitch black rooms, filled with a treasure trove of traps and the threat of rattlesnake biting, where you can see how each old/new cast member deals with the fear (the Ehren/Dave relationship was particularly sweet/hilarious). The next minute you’ll be covering your eyes as Steve-O attemps to build a hive of bees around his penis, that just gets bigger…and bigger…and bigger. That not working for you? We’re onto a hidden camera situation involving a furniture store and Knoxville’s Bad Grandpa. With 20 years, the Jackass crew also remixes and ups the ante on old gags, like Dave England taking a shit in a disconnected toilet at a yard sale. Scope of the stunts go really big (the opening/ending numbers) to really small (an, um, interesting botox injection and ping pong game). What do they all have in common? They’re brilliantly designed, and almost always end with a laugh in some form (out of fear, shame, stupdity, etc).
Jackass Forever also has something the other films don’t: an air of finality. You can sense the elder statesmen feel their time is coming to an end, so they had to bring it at least one more time. They also realize that it might be time to pass the torch (Jackass’s DNA is all over Eric Andre’s Bad Trip, for example), letting us get to know the new generation, and the importance these guys have in creating a culture for a certain brand of risk taking individual that society will never understand. In Jackass Forever, you can find a home and some friends…provided you don’t mind getting hit in the dick every now and again, or taking a shit in an exploding porta-potty.