SYNOPSIS: A mix of classic stunts and new, never-before-seen deeds of derring-do, “Jackass: Best and Last” is a compilation of idiotic behaviour that will puzzle and please audiences in equal measure.
CAST: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Wee Man, Preston Lacy, Dave England, and Danger Ehren, Poopies, Zach Holmes, Jasper Dolphin, Rachel Wolfson. Directed by Jeff Tremaine.
REVIEW: Depending on your point of view, “Jackass: Best and Last” is either a masochistic pageant passing as entertainment or, as head prankster Johnny Knoxville says, “a celebration of friendship and stupidity.”
The truth is somewhere in the middle.
A mix of footage from the last twenty-five years of “Jackass” absurdity, plus new, never-before-seen pranks and interviews with the cast, the movie is a celebration of punishment in the name of fun.
Longtime fans will remember the wild Brad Pitt’s Abduction and the late Ryan Dunn’s Butt X-Ray gag, which are intercut with new stunts like Poopies’ Penis Shock Collar Balance Beam and the Steve-O’s Peanut Butter Robot Prostrate Exam. Guest star Paul Walter Hauser does not understate the case when he calls it, “Make-A-Wish if it was punishment.”
Not for the faint of heart, it’s a cavalcade of maltreatment and bad decisions that comes across as a love letter to a quarter century of “Jackass” and their unique brand of idiotic cabaret.
Knoxville and Company, though hobbled by age and infirmity, are as enthusiastic today as they were in the early 2000s to shove things in orifices where they don’t belong and risk life and disease in service of their own brand of absurdity. You have to admire the enthusiasm, even if some of the material, like the game of Colonoscopy Prep Twister, is some of the grossest stuff ever committed to film.
Audiences, I think, love the nasty stuff in the same way they like horror movies. Each scare delivers a safe jolt of dopamine and “Jackass” gives viewers that same rush without requiring them to take a kick to the groin.
A movie for people who don’t have enough nonsense in their lives, it’s like watching ninety minutes of bloopers and outtakes. There’s no story, no character arcs, just abuse and camaraderie.
But it is that sense of kinship that elevates “Jackass: Best and Last” from a gleeful Grand Guignol style stunt movie to a portrait of misfits who found a niche and a de facto family. It would almost be sweet if they didn’t spend so much of the runtime covered in feces.
With the release of “Jackass: Best and Last” the anarchic franchise goes the way of dial-up modems and phonebooks. As the curtain falls (allegedly for the final time) there is no epiphany, no lessons learned, just dangerous stunts, hysterical reactions and pure escapism. It’s slapstick that takes the idea that it’s always funny when someone falls and amps it up to eleven.
The very definition of a film that won’t be for everyone, it will leave fans with a sense of nostalgia but may leave non-fans feeling like cast member Ryan Dunn, who said, “I’m really questioning myself right now,” as he prepared to shove a toy car where the sun don’t shine.
