In the UK the 4th Jackass film was rated 18 (16 here) for crude and dangerous stunts, and nudity. Nudity that in the words of the BBFC includes close-up genital and anal nudity in a comic, non-sexual context. Wording it like that makes it feel very innocuous when the reality is an underwater close up of Steve-O's farting anus or a glimpse of Danger Ehren's torn and bleeding scrotum. If you have a delicate constitution you might want to give Jackass Forever a miss but if you can handle it's barrage of battered genitalia and broken bones then you'll get to see the funniest film of the year.
The boys are back in town. Well most of them anyway. They're older and greyer but they aren't wiser. It's 12 years since we last saw them onscreen and now they're here for once last spin around the dance floor and it's a joy to be spending time with them again. Steve-O, who's defied ALL the odds to become a sober and quite effective podcaster, "Wee-Man" Jason Acuña and Preston Lacey, Ehren McGhehey and Dave England, Chris Pontius and, the captain himself, Johnny Knoxville. Along for the ride are a couple of fun and VERY game new faces (Sean "Poopies" McInerney, Jasper Dolphin, Rachel Wolfson and Zach Holmes) but it's the original gang we're here for and seeing their unabashed love for each other spilling off the screen will always give you the warm and fuzzies despite the carnage they're going through. Bam Margera and Ryan Dunn's absences are felt though. Ryan sadly died in a car wreck a decade ago and gets a nice tribute at the end while Bam fell off the deep end totally in a manner so extreme the film company wouldn't insure him to be a part of this film (He does pop up momentarily in one scene but chances are you won't even notice him.) They'll play on your mind throughout especially if you've been a long-term fan and you can't help but wonder if coming back without them was the right move.
But if they hadn't made this film we'd have never have got to see Cockzilla, the DNA spewing Kaiju that opens the movie. It's here the laughter starts when you realise just how the effect has been created and that laughter won't stop for the next 90 minutes. Laughter that turns queasy when pig semen appears by the gallon or when milk meets a highspeed merry go round, laughter that becomes terrified when spiders, scorpions, vultures and bears join the gang and just plain old hysterical laughter when Danger Ehren decides that making us laugh is far more important than the safety and well being of his nuts when he exposes them to high speed projectiles, pogo sticks and heavyweight MMA fighters.
The immortal warning spoken by Knoxville at the start of the film comes to mind here but if you're dumb to copy anything you see onscreen here you deserve everything you get.
Near the end there's an affecting split screen moment where we get to see the boyos at the beginning of their journey compared to now. Hair is grey or vanished, wrinkles abound and smiles are riddled with accident induced gaps and chances are you'll feel kinda melancholy during it when you remember you've been on your own journey alongside everyone onscreen. But then someone gets tased in the nuts or blows up a fart and you'll crease up again. Unsurprisingly the new faces take the brunt of the really gnarly and dangerous stunts. Rachel Wolfson letting a scorpion use her face for target practice, Poopies trying to kiss an angry snake or Zach Holmes diving topless onto a table full of cattleprods and mousetraps in a blacked out room. But it's the series MVP's - Knoxville and Ehren who provide the most memorable moments, Ehren's testicular fortitude and Knoxville's run in with an angry bull. Are they astoundingly stupid or astoundingly brave? Or both? Who cares. In the wake of all the controversy around comedians this week, this type of humour, that a few years ago seemed to have run it's course, feels refreshing and nearly innocent in comparison. There's no meanness, no bodyshaming, no sexism, no racism, no homophobia and no hate here. It's just a bunch of old buddies getting together and suffering for our pleasure.
And it's glorious.
Jackass Forever is in cinemas now.
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