Jackass Forever review: More juvenile japes from Johnny Knoxville and co
The Jackass crew haven't matured one bit in the two decades since we first saw them – and that's just as it should be.
Around halfway through Jackass Forever, the latest instalment of the long-running prank and stunt series, Johnny Knoxville turns to the camera and says with a massive grin: "Twenty years later, and we're still doing the same stupid s**t!" And to be frank, that remark just about covers everything you'd really need from a review of this film – it picks up just where the previous entries left off, and will give fans of the franchise more or less exactly what they crave.
Knoxville and most of his usual collaborators, including Steve O, Wee Man and Chris Pontius (but notably not Bam Margera) are all back for more, and although they might be approaching 50, there are no signs that any of them have matured one bit since the last time they shared a screen. And that's just as well: no one turns up at a screening of Jackass expecting anything short of the most puerile, outrageous behaviour imaginable, and on that front, Jackass Forever well and truly delivers.
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The film begins with an impressively high-production-value stunt that features what can only be described as a Godzilla penis-puppet, and that rather sets the tone for the hour and a half of anarchic antics that follows. Nothing is off-limits for the crew, and they find themselves up against deadly serpents, swarms of bees, grizzly bears, angry bulls, human cannonballs and huge buckets full of pig semen – while they also suffer all manner of nasty blows to their private parts, sometimes in rather inventive ways.
There are also some more brilliant hidden camera segments, while at various points there are callbacks to the previous films from 20 years ago, as the gang revisit some memorable stunts, including one in which they attempt to ignite a fart underwater, this time with help from an explosives expert. This nostalgia all culminates in a credits sequence where we see several stunts from years gone by alongside more recent pranks – ending in an emotional tribute to former cast member Ryan Dunn, who tragically passed away in 2011.
Meanwhile, the regular cast are joined this time by a host of newcomers – including Zach Holmes and Rachel Wolfson – who prove every bit as fearless as their co-stars, while a handful of contributions from celebrity guests such as Eric Andre, Machine Gun Kelly, and Tyler the Creator are also tremendous fun. It's often in observing the crew's reactions to the various stunts that the film really comes alive – these guys clearly have a huge amount of affection for one another, and their laughter at each other's expense is incredibly infectious.
As ever, there's a degree of inconsistency to the film: some of the segments don't really work, some of them are a touch too wince-inducing to really be funny, and some threaten to crossover into mean-spiritedness – while the constant onslaught of pain does become a bit exhausting towards the latter stretch. At its best, though, Jackass Forever is frequently hilarious and admirably daring – and it's hard not to have at least a touch of respect for how much the gang are willing to put themselves through in the name of entertainment.
Jackass Forever is in cinemas from Friday 4th February 2022. Visit our Movies hub for the latest news and features, or find something to watch tonight with our TV Guide.
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
