Jackass Forever Is Perfect
Everyone deserves 90 minutes of pure, unrelenting joy
I still vividly remember watching “Jackass 3D” in theaters 12 years ago.
Unlike some who have been there since the beginning, I have not watched everything the Jackass boys have ever put out. I have of course seen some specific stunts and gags from before 2010, but the third movie was my first full viewing of what Johnny Knoxville and company can produce over an hour and a half.
And in that theater, watching with my father, I understood what makes these fools so damn great.
That experience — watching men drop soup trays via gigantic hand, get launched into the air while in a Port A Potty or get intentionally blindsided by a likely hall of fame defensive end — was more entertainment than I could usually ask for from a more typical movie with stupid things like “plot lines” or whatever.
If that was my only Jackass experience, I’d still be thinking about it to this day, but now we have “Jackass Forever,” and let me be the one to tell you if no one in your life has yet: Go see this movie.
Everything I loved about “Jackass 3D” is here and it’s better. The ideas are stronger, the cast is larger and the camaraderie within the group is as strong as it has ever been.
That last part is important, and it’s why a whole movie about these people inflicting pain on each other works so well. The punchline is always on one of the Jackass members, the only time innocent bystanders are involved is to be the accidental audience to the pain of someone who is in on it in the first place.
Both Knoxville and Steve-O have talked about this so I’m not breaking ground here, but there are two things that I think are the general turn offs to pranks that people see online:
They are hurting, or at least annoying, innocent people
They are fake
Jackass pranks are never either of those things, and it allows the audience to be completely in on whatever wrath is upon the next victim.
Another thing I love so much about Jackass is how much enjoyment they each get in their friends’ pain. I will not spoil any of the bits from “Forever” because I want everyone reading this to see it. But, to put it generally, no matter what type of torture someone here is enduring, there is an uproar of laughter from whoever is sitting to the side. It is infectious to watch, and it was impossible not to laugh along with them.
Let’s talk a little bit about the cast. Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Wee Man, Dave England, Ehren McGhehey and Preston Lacy are the returning original members (I think), and the amount of despicable acts each of these people continue to put themselves in as they creep toward the age of 50 is unbelievable.
You always worry about some magic being lost when new faces are brought in, regardless of the show or movie series, but that is not the case here either. Newcomers Zach Holmes, Jasper, Rachel Wolfson and a man that goes by the name “Poopies” are each exceptional in their own right, going equally balls to the wall as any of the regulars.
There are also plenty of guests (again, no spoiling here) that add plenty without taking the shine away from the true heroes of the story, and yes, they should be considered heroes at this point.
Knoxville and Steve-O probably should have died a few times each, and yet here they are, pushing 50, still trying to kill themselves on camera for my entertainment. And my goodness it is the best entertainment I have seen in a long, long time.
This movie’s opener should be nominated for awards with how good it is, and the laughs never stopped from there. Not one bit fell flat, not one moment was wasted. “Jackass Forever” was 96 of the most entertaining minutes of my entire life, a moment I will never forget.
I know there will still be plenty of people who don’t get the appeal of Jackass, and that’s fine. Pain humor can be considered “cheap,” like a jump scare in a horror movie, I get it.
But when it is effective, cheap can work just fine, and no one is as effective at anything in this world than Jackass is at making pain funny. This is an art form, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Go see “Jackass Forever” and forget about everything that is happening in this cruel world for 96 minutes. If you let these stupid morons into your world, I guarantee you they won’t let you down.
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