Jackass Forever

Right from those sweet, sweet words, “I’m Johnny Knoxville and welcome to Jackass”, you feel right at home and absorbed back in the hilarious and chaotic world of the Jackass crew. Eleven years have passed since the gang’s leader last declared those famous words in Jackass 3D, and although the central cast is indeed getting older, the stunts and pranks are bigger than ever before.

Introducing new, more youthful recruits, including the likes of Jasper Dolphin of Odd Future, Poopies and Rachel Wolfson, Jackass Forever has a slightly fresher feel to it than its more recent predecessors, still cycling through similarly dangerous escapades like there is no tomorrow, but putting others through the wringer while Knoxville, Pontius, Steve-O, Wee Man and co all laugh on from a safe distance. That is not to say our favourite stars don’t participate themselves, but rather they reserve themselves for the truly ridiculous challenges that arise. They are all still just incredible at what they do and to this day hit on the formula that worked so well over two decades ago.

Ranging from serious pain to the completely insane, the action in this latest film, blended with the terrific comic timing of all involved, will leave you frothing at the mouth for the next stunt to begin. The use of special guest features is a genius idea, with the likes of Tyler (“I am not an idiot”) the Creator and Machine Gun Kelly becoming a part of the franchise they watched when they were children, and this helps the movie seamlessly float from one act of danger to the next, from the famous cup test to an explosive game of musical chairs.

Jackass Forever is the worthiest of worthy sequels, bringing together all of our favourite faces who last took a giant hand to the face eleven years ago. They haven’t reinvented the wheel, but is it not the brilliant meaninglessness that is the beauty of Jackass? Striking a rare serious note, there are sentimental elements, such as references to pranks and stunts that were first imagined over 20 years ago, shot on home video and re-enacted on a much larger scale. This, coupled with a touching tribute to former member Ryan Dunn, shows that despite the rapid-fire comedy, there is also a heart to this film and every cast and crew member knows it.

It’s 2022 and the world is emerging from a brutal two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Is this not the feel-good film movie we need right now? With a million laughs trapped into a 104-minute barrel of fun, and with the introduction of fresh, diverse blood, the guys really will go on forever as the title suggests, or at least the original group will go down in legendary history. You can blow this merry team to hell and back and still know they will come crawling back for more, and so shall we.

Guy Lambert

Jackass Forever is released nationwide on 4^th February 2022.

Watch the trailer for Jackass Forever here: