by Heath Lynch, Contributing Writer
In October of 2000 MTV came out with a television show that captivated Generation X and Millennials alike. It was simply called Jackass. It wasn’t dedicated to a structured storyline, but instead depicted a group of friends who constantly pulled pranks on one another or put themselves through bodily harm for the sake of humor. The show ran for three seasons before ending and transitioning to film so the rag tag group could conquer more extreme stunts — accompanied by much more colorful language — that would be forbidden on television. In eight years, they were able to make three feature films that grossed hundreds of millions of dollars. They even went on to make a film dedicated to one of their more popular skits in which one of the group members dresses up as an old man and pretends to be a horrible grandparent. But now, the bad boys of stupidity are back with Jackass Forever.
It’s interesting returning to this franchise after more than a decade since the last film in the series. With most of our veterans aging out, and some not returning at all, the chemistry isn’t what it once was. It makes it seem like people were having less fun, or at least more forced fun, than the natural shenanigans that previously took place with the original lineup. But to be fair, no one really watches a Jackass movie for any reason other the inclusion of idiotic painful slapstick humor, tomfoolery with animals, dick and ball jokes, and vomit. Don’t worry folks, this movie has those things in spades.
But I’ll get to all the gags that you’ve grown accustomed to expecting. First, we really need to dissect the feel of this movie and what it’s truly saying. The most prominent stars of this franchise have long been Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O. Knoxville in particular is the face of the franchise in many ways. These two combine for the most screen time and some of the most asinine stunts that elicit the most pain, while providing some of the greatest laughter for the audience. While these two have returned to anchor this new movie, the next two most prominent figures from the franchise are absent entirely. Ryan Dunn tragically died about one year after the release of Jackass 3D. He was one of the figures in the group that many of the others rallied around, as he was constantly able to laugh even when he was the target of a prank or joke. A truly good spirited individual taken away far too soon. The other big name absent from this flick, and arguably the third biggest star behind Knoxville and Steve-O, would be Bam Margera. Dunn and Margera were best friends, even outside the sphere of Jackass, and the death of Dunn impacted Margera in a big way. Unfortunately, the pain felt from the loss of someone so close and personal led Margera down a dark path of substance abuse. We won’t dive into it too much — the information is out there to research on your own — but suffice it to say that Margera’s sobriety became virtually nonexistent. This led to a toxic work environment for the new film, and Margera had to be fired from the production.
This changes the entire dynamic of the film, as other members of the group had to step up to fill the void of these two missing members. Performers such as Dave Englad, Danger Ehren McGhehey, Wee Man, Chris Pontius, and Preston Lacy were push forward to be more than the occasional bit character, and I’m not sure it works that well. The vibe and dynamic of the group just felt… off. And to compensate for some of that missing energy, the team decided to do two things. One, they brought on a bunch of new faces. I’m not entirely sure if they’re setting this up to be the passing of the torch so these new names can carry Jackass forward into a new era, or if it was just to round out the cast. While it was nice to have our first black Jackass member in Jasper, or our first woman with Rachel Wolfson, it still kind of rang hollow, especially when the newest member to get the most screen time was just another generic white guy doing the same crap as everyone else, and his name was Poopies. Swell.
Two, this film is way more violent and dangerous than any previous Jackass film ever made. It’s not even debatable. It definitely feels as though the gang is attempting to up the ante as much as possible to compensate for the change in group dynamic and just overwhelm the audience with gag after gag, one extreme after another. As I said earlier, that’s why people enjoy these movies anyway, so it might’ve just been the right call. To me though, this was the first time I found myself watching one of these movies genuinely thinking, “Holy crap, someone might die. I’m not sure how comfortable I am with this.” Obviously we know no one is going to actually die, because they’re showing the movie to us. If someone had died in filming months ago, it would’ve been news. Heck, they probably wouldn’t have released the movie. But at the moment of filming, these performers surely don’t know they’re going to make it out alive. At that time, the fear was very real, and I don’t know if i can condone putting people in these situations for our entertainment, even if they willingly agreed. It just feels slightly icky.
With all that said, however, my big dumb ape brain still had an overall great time. I laughed my butt off! In fact, I maybe haven’t laughed this much at a movie in years, and I wasn’t the only one. The entire theater auditorium was exploding with laughter. Snorting. Chuckling. Buckling over in a fit of giggles. It was non-stop frivolity. Because this movie is insane, and the jokes and stunts never let their foot off the gas. Right from the opening sequence, you can see that more money has been put into the production of Jackass Forever than any other film in the franchise. Also, right from the jump our lovable idiots remind you exactly what this group is all about, in case you forgot after not seeing them for 12 years, as a giant dick kaiju monster terrorizes an urban area. Our resident Jackasses get trampled, tackled, and exploded off of buildings as they run away from waves of ejaculate. Yes, it’s that absurd, and that’s only the opening segment. Either you’re on board for this type of humor, or you’re not. If not, you better get out of the way before this movie runs you over.
Whether it’s coming up with new and elaborate pranks like a Silence of the Lambs night vision death trap, having a vulture pick meat off of a little person tied and staked to the ground, playing trivia where the consequence of getting a wrong answer is a smack to the balls, or having a bear eat salmon and honey off of a man strapped to a chair, this movie is relentless. It even pays homage to some of its earlier skits from the original film, or even the original aired television show. In fact, one of the sequences, called ‘The Cup Test,’ is just Danger Ehren being smoked in the junk repeatedly in different, and more increasingly painful, ways to see if a cup can protect his genitalia. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. And that’s the basis of this movie. It’s hilarious laughing at the pain and awkwardness of these individuals, especially because it’s clear this is a group of friends who all signed up for this and this is how they choose to have fun. We are just along for the ride.
One thing I truly appreciated, though, was a cut back on the gross out humor. Jackass Forever is very heavy on the pain filled slapstick humor when compared to the first three movies and extremely light on the fecal matter, urine, and vomit. To me, this is a huge plus, as I definitely get disgusted seeing people throw up; it’s easily my least favorite part of these movies. But almost all of this is relegated to a final skit in which the intention is to get everyone to throw up after drinking way too much milk and spinning on a merry-go-round. As disgusting as that sounds, the skit quickly devolves and hits a different gear as an army of people start running in to shoot everyone on the merry-go-round with paintball guns, making the vomit humor entirely secondary to the all out unexpected physical assault. So even when the movie decides to gross the audience out, it offers a counterweight to make the scenes more palatable.
Overall, as I stated at the jump, if you’re a fan of Jackass, then you’re a fan of Jackass. You know what you are getting into, and you are very likely going to enjoy Jackass Forever. Although I personally didn’t have as much of an attachment to this new film given the different roster of characters that I wasn’t nearly as attached to and the more extreme pain that these performers were subjected to, I cannot deny the fact that this was still entertaining and very funny. Frankly, in many ways, in a world so divided, especially after we’ve been cooped up in houses for the past two years, this might be the exact type of humor we need to gain some much needed laughter and levity in our lives.
Grade: B-
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