Even the most serious and stuffy movie buff has its unspeakable weaknesses. That scholar in John Ford’s career may have a dwarf watching ‘Lavalántula’, or that great expert in the dramatic films of the silent era watch ‘Mean Girls’ every weekend without fail. for that, and although it is very tempting to despise this film as if it were second rate cinema, the following sentence is far from being a boutade: ‘Jackass Forever’ is the movie we deserve to see in 2022.
blows and injuries
Facing ‘Jackass forever’ against any other option on the billboard is to feel like Homer at the Springfield film festival: “Barney’s movie was moving, but ‘Ball in the crotch’ It was a ball to the groin!”. The new installment of the barbarities of Johnny Knoxville and his gang is an hour and a half of ‘Balonazo en sus parte’, absolutely and totally literally. And I’m not saying that as something negative: there is something instinctive and atavistic about laughing like a marsupial from start to finish watching impossible blows.
Back to basics: After ‘Jackass 3D’ and the subsequent death of Ryan Dunn, MTV’s group of beat-up junkies decided to split up after a decade of broken bones and concussions. Just before the pandemic hit us, Johnny Knoxville decided to get the group back together to record more smashes and see if they still had chemistry. Five minutes into filming, they decided that there was indeed going to be a quarter of ‘Jackass’. And luckily: They came back when we needed them most.
One would think that, over the years, the cast of the saga would have calmed down in their self-inflicted savagery. In the end they are already fifty and maybe they shouldn’t do certain things. Doubts quickly dissipate at the same moment that Steve-O, totally naked, fills his penis with bees until it is completely covered. What do you want me to tell you, it can shock you, but the surprise is capitalized in a world that, with so many visual stimuli, is less and less surprising. And from here, the madness grows.
The contempt for the art of sticking
It’s so easy to despise ‘Jackass’ and believe that it is an entertainment for the common people. Believe me, I know: I’ve been there. And yet, there is something very liberating about laughing with a person being punched in the genitals by the boxer with the fastest, most powerful punch in the world. There is no plot line, script or meaning, beyond a great (and monstrous) opening sequence directed by Spike Jonze. If the director of ‘Adaptation. The orchid thief’, ‘Her’ or ‘How to be John Malkovich’ has no prejudice, why should you?
‘Jackass forever’, as always happens in the saga, doesn’t always work. There are stunts that promise but come to nothing, like the one that the promotional campaign was based on and that launches Johnny Knoxville into the air from a giant cannon, but others are authentic wonders of the genre “But how did they agree to do this?”. At one point, a team member is tied to a chair, covered in honey and salmon, and left, all alone, at the mercy of a bear. Not even Tom Cruise would dare to do this.
This fourth part responds to that primary instinct that makes us seeing a train wreck and not being able to look away, but with the peace of mind of knowing that these people are experts in what they do and no one is going to get (very) hurt. Well, except for Johnny Knoxville himself, who saves his biggest blow for the final stretch of the film, although it happened only two days after filming began. In it, a bull lifts him into the air while he is dressed as a magician, as a sick and unprotected test of the ‘Grand Prix’. It is not the first time that he has faced a bull, but it is the first time that he has done so at the age of fifty. And, luckily for all of us who already feared for his life, it will be the last.
Jackass: the new generation
‘jackass forever’ has a bit of everything for those who love other people writhing in pain: a cultural quiz (with genital punches for the losers), a cast member smeared in pig semen, a flattened penis used as a ping-pong racket, or a tremendous punch riding a bike against a false wall. Every two or three minutes, when you think that nothing could surprise you anymore, something new arrives to make you think about the dedication of this group of friends to make the most complicated things possible. to end up on the ground between screams and laughter.
Because, in the end, this movie is about friendship. About a group of friends who have weathered decades and fame together, lost people along the way, and just want spend a few last months together before putting aside what they love to do for your own safety. And, in addition, inviting friends from outside the group, like the always fabulous Eric André, so that they can live that experience with them. For a movie where a hockey player shoots the puck at a cast member’s genitals, it’s almost twilight.
Not all the cast works, sadly. Missing Bam Margera, who was expelled for not being able to stay sober, something that Paramount demanded of him, and the new members do not quite measure up. They have to be, sure, because at least part of the hits have to go to a younger group, but aside from Poopies and Zach Holmes, the rest don’t have the same charisma. Special mention to Rachel Wolfson, the first woman in ‘Jackass’who although he does not participate in the hardest stunts, he does get to give a (painful) kiss to the tail of a scorpion.
Particularly out of place are the appearances of Dark Shark, the father of Jasper, one of the new members, who has just been released from prison and needs money. His tests are not funny because it shows that he neither enjoys receiving, nor does he want to be there, nor does he understand what is happening (no matter how much he laughs when others end up being beaten). It doesn’t look like this little group is going to continue ‘Jackass’: Steve-O, Wee Man or Chris Pontius are impossible to replace, especially because of their few doubts, their extreme confidence and their predisposition to not think about danger if it’s fun.
And basically, this is what ‘Jackass forever’ achieves: take us out of the horrible reality for 90 minutes with a clean laugh, enjoy a festival of blows and unimaginable situations, without, at some point, thinking about the danger of what we are seeing and letting ourselves be rocked by the gentle breeze of fun without complexes. It does not have beautiful shots, an Oscar soundtrack or a captivating plot, but it does have a tennis match between penises crushed with perspex. I never thought I would see something like this on the big screen. AND worth.
In short
I can’t recommend ‘Jackass forever’ to everyone, but I do think there is something fabulous in getting rid of your prejudices and enjoy a film that not only knows exactly what it can offer, but also doesn’t hesitate to offer it twenty-fold. A collection of well-crafted sets featuring ball punches, beatings, bruised brains, broken bones, kisses with scorpions, and, in the background, a group of friends living their latest rodeo to the fullest. If this is the end of ‘Jackass,’ they can walk away with their heads held high.. If the collars allow it.