Jackass Forever | movie review
Seriously, don't try ANY of this shit at home.
Movie summary: After 11 years, the Jackass crew is back for another crusade. (IMDb)
It's been a good long while since I watched a Jackass movie, although the second film does rank up there as one of the greatest cinema visits of my life with the entire audience struggling for breath from laughing so much for most of the running time. So Jackass Forever had it both easy and hard when it came to seeing just how good it was after so long since the team's last outing.
I have to admit that seeing a whole bunch of new faces wasn't the best start either, although it's understandable that the remaining members of the classic crew would want to share the load with their bodies maybe not so able to take blows with age and their past antics having taken their toll. Add in the fact that the stunts in this movie feel like the damaging so far and the extra numbers starts to make a lot more sense.
And it's not as if the new faces for Jackass Forever are bad either, but I simply have no attachment to them and honestly still didn't by the time the movie finished. It's maybe unfair to compare and more than a little bias from myself, but there's a certain special energy on-screen when it's the more familiar faces that really takes the movie up a level.
As for the movie itself, it's a little hard to review like a regular film because it's not as if there's a story going on or much in the way of themes beyond making sure that you surround yourself with the kind of friends you can still laugh and have fun with after they've repeatedly shocked you with a taser. Also, know your limits, but keep getting back up when you're knocked down until you reach them - something displayed here to my astonishment on more than one occasion.
A lot of the action is wince-inducing to the point of potentially grossing out some who might want to try watching this, but it was the physical pain that I felt most empathy for. There are a couple of genuinely disgusting moments (in the best way possible), but the stuff that kept me glued to the screen was seeing just how much physical abuse they could all take, which is a LOT.
Jackass Forever is absolutely not going to be a movie for everyone due to the nature of pretty much every skit, but there's something very comforting about seeing a bunch of friends just having a blast hanging out with each other and doing all kinds of crazy shit to make themselves laugh. There's also got to be some credit too for just how inventive a lot of the stunts are - even if it might occasionally be hard to watch the results of such creativity.
Jackass Forever is a lot of really gross and painful fun to watch, although it only really shines when the regulars are centre stage - the new members of the crew are fun to watch, but there's no attachment there. This latest set of stunts feels like the most painful batch so far, especially with the original members of the group getting older and - while hilarious - it's also somewhat awe-inducing how they keep getting back up.
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