The Jackasses are Back in Jackass Forever (2022)
I’ll be the first to admit, I was among those who passed over the Jackass TV show when it first began airing on MTV in October of 2000. I can’t remember why exactly, especially since I’ve grown into a huge fan of these guys (and now, guys and gal) over the years. I seem to remember channel surfing, stopping on it for a minute, and then that was the end of that. But what I remember more vividly is when the film came out in 2002. I recall being surprised that a movie was even being released, and even more surprised when I saw that it was well-received with a strong showing at the box office. I had the opportunity to see it once it released on home video, and over that next hour and a half, I laughed harder than I had in recent memory. Jackass Forever looks to continue that trend.
Jackass has a couple of main strengths, in my opinion: First of all, the cast: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Wee Man, Bam Margera, and the late Ryan Dunn, are just interesting, naturally funny, and likeable. Certainly we all have our faults and demons, but for the most part, none of that ever comes close to impeding on their individual and collective appeal. I would say that they are each also very strong in physical comedy, although when it comes to the concept of this franchise, you really don’t have much choice in the matter – you’re going to be great at physical comedy whether you like it or not!
Second, we have the stunts. Not only is the vast majority of the sh*t they do stuff that most regular people would never even dream of doing, but they often do things that go beyond an interesting spectacle and enter in to the truly obscene. There have been times when the nature of a stunt was so repulsive (often involving bodily fluids of man and beast alike), that I was both laughing hysterically and on the verge of vomiting at the same time. In fact, Jackass 3-D, which I saw in the theater, affected me to such a degree that I had to get some of it out of my mind before I could eat my next meal!
In Jackass Forever, you have the same overall approach as the previous films, with the main differences being that the core cast is now middle-aged, and they have brought along new “pledges”, so to speak, to carry the Jackass torch for the younger generation. It’s hard to say if the newbies will successfully rise to the level of those who came before them in terms of personality and likeability, but I’d say for at least one of them – Poopies – the future is bright. Poopies stood out to me as being from the same obnoxiously charismatic vein as Knoxville et al.
If you’ve enjoyed the previous films, there’s no reason to think you won’t love the current outing. If you hated the previous films, there’s every reason to believe you’ll hate this one, too. If you’ve never seen a Jackass film, what are you waiting for and try Jackass Forever on for size.
Score: 8.2/10
Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, and Dave England
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