The Reel Review
The raucous stunt crew of filmmaking frat boys are back, recreating their greatest hits of crude jokes and extreme stunts – and even concocting some new ones – in what star Johnny Knoxville has billed as the fourth and final slapstick comedy documentary from the gang that first started as a wildly popular TV series on MTV in 2000.
Jackass Forever starts with a tone-setting segment featuring extreme closeups of Chris Pontius’s penis and testicles dressed up as a Godzilla, “attacking” a miniature version of a city and spewing semen onto crowds of soldiers. (The tiny monster arms attached to it are actually pretty hilarious.) If this kind of silly, sophomoric humor is your thing, then Jackass Forever clearly is the cinematic masterpiece for you.
Among the electrocutions, the vomiting, the gross-out scat humor, animal attacks, groin punches, and enough full-frontal male nudity to rival an episode of Euphoria, the rowdy, wild-eyed cast and crew of Jackass Forever at least looks like they are having the time of their lives as they flirt with serious physical injury for an hour-and-a-half.
A few bits are actually pretty funny, but most are just lame. Fortunately, few segments run more than a minute, keeping the pacing quick and breezy. Nostalgic fans of the series and prior films will get a kick out of seeing this brainless reunion of the crew of now middle-aged stunt comics, but most will find it tedious and kind of boring, despite the cast laughing all the way to the bank.
REEL FACTS
• Jackass Forever director Jeff Tremaine filed a restraining order against original cast member Bam Margera after Margera was fired during filming for erratic behavior and for violating a sobriety clause in his contract, then making death threats against Tremaine and his family. Original Jackass castmember Ryan Dunn died in an alcohol-related car accident in 2011.
• Johnny Knoxville, who suffered a urethra tear in 2007 that required daily catheterization for years to prevent scarring, suffered a brain hemorrhage and concussion and broke a rib and a wrist while filming the “bull magic trick” segment in Jackass Forever. Ehren McGhehey ruptured his right testicle after Dave England jumped on it with a metal pogo stick, Steve-O got two plates in his left collar bone after filming a scene that didn’t make the final cut, and professional skateboarder Aaron Homoki broke his wrist while test filming being flung out of a hammock.
• Filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, more than a tenth of the $10 million budget for Jackass Forever covered the cost of daily COVID testing for the cast and crew. The film has grossed more than $78 million worldwide.
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