Why This Doesn't Have To Be the Last 'Jackass'
We’ve come full circle. A movie that took pride in bad taste and negative reviews now sits at a cozy 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. Freed from the shackles of having to spoil anything before a movie comes out, I can say that the RT score for Jackass 5 seems fishy. The movie wasn’t screened for the press; hence this post-release article. Despite being titled Jackass: Best and Last, this is the worst Jackass. And it certainly is the last sequel with the original crew. But not the final streaming special. The picture reaches for a sentimental goodbye, yet its structure is lazy.
Jackass 5 is lazy because an enormous chunk of the movie consists of old sketches reinserted. This isn’t a sequel. It’s a highlight reel, albeit an effective one. The picture starts with an unaired sketch that put Jackass on every American television screen. Johnny Knoxville loads a small-caliber revolver that he’s going to use on his chest. For protection, Knoxville uses a bunch of porno magazines to stop the bullet. As you can tell by Knoxville not being dead, it worked. Whether it was a blank or Johnny was wearing a bulletproof vest is up for discussion. There’s an issue with this scene. Yes, you should never try this at home, as it’s clearly shown in every Jackass episode. But what message does it really send? Don’t do this because you’ll likely die. If you do it successfully, however, you can be rich and famous like Johnny Knoxville. Emotionally and structurally, the scene works, but morally, it’s very gray.
I get it, this is Jackass. The epitome of low-brow dumb humor. Although it now comes from Netflix comedy specials and the White House. Unlike those guys, though, Jackass was always in good spirits. They’re very pro gay (John Waters is in Jackass Number Two). They don’t make fun of minorities. The only time they did was during the second film’s closing terrorist sketch. And they’re always mocking each other. Never belittling people who are already struggling. There’s far more class in Jackass than there is in Rob Schneider’s bigoted comedy special. Yes, Jackass is not a program to be imitated, but funny is funny. Farting is humor from God. We instinctively laugh when someone falls or embarrasses themselves in public. We don’t know why we’re laughing at someone vomiting or being defecated on, other than that it’s depraved and improper. Yet it’s never hateful. That’s why Jackass is (or was) special.
The first time seeing Jackass in the theater with a live audience was magical. I came in 20 minutes later, but since the movie is a series of sketches, it’s not like I lost any of the plot. The memory is still vivid and likely will be until I die. The theater was dark. Bam Margera’s father, Phil, gets in his car at presumably 5:30am to get to work. Immediately, fireworks light up the inside of his car like it’s the 4th of July. Right when those fireworks erupted, so did the audience in a way that I’ve never seen before. Usually, comedies get chuckles, but this picture elicited milk-shooting laughter throughout every frame. This is why we go to the movies. To be in a safe place where we can cry or be silly. Or maybe even vomit. That magical feeling from all the screenings of each film is missing with Best and Last.
Although there are serious moral questions regarding the beginning, it’s more or less pearl-clutching if you’re surprised by this sort of behavior. Yet I can’t think of all the other folks who tried that revolver stunt but didn’t make it. It’s Darwin’s survival of the fittest in its most primal form. Unfortunately, most folks don’t get so lucky in life.
Many would watch the opening scene to this movie and think “well he did it without the safety or the advisory of professionals. Why can’t I?” Because not everyone was Keanu Reeves’ stand-in for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Before 1998, Knoxville’s first consistent gig was for a Francis Ford Coppola picture that many still admire today. Some people are on the right set at the right time. And there are even more people who think they’ll get lucky one day, too. And yes, many do. Yet the overwhelming majority don’t go anywhere. If you’re Rick from Alabama, you can do whatever you want to your nuts and your life, but your audition will just end up in the garbage.
To Knoxville’s credit, there aren’t many actors in the film industry who are as daring as he is to put their health on the line. Yet, you can also tell in moments of Johnny Knoxville’s vulnerability that he’s not some emotionally cut-off bro. Even as a Jackass, kindness, more than success, is the type of knowledge that can’t be smacked out of the head.
Jackass welcomes stupidity, yet doesn’t reward bigotry. Certainly, several critics and scholars would likely disagree. That’s okay. There are those of us in society who are educated enough to look at Jackass and share an instinctive, gut-wrenching laugh with the audience rather than seeing it as the downfall of civilization. It was the younger generation, certainly not many of the boomers, who exemplified a more hopeful future.
When I was growing up, people in their forties were concerned about the MTV generation. They were afraid kids from my generation and generations after me would become lazy idiots who only wanted to watch people get kicked in the balls. It turns out they were wrong. In fact, they ended up becoming that themselves. Rich and lazy from their own hard work, they left nothing for future generations, wanting to keep all the wealth to themselves. But hey, Jackass is going to destroy our youth!
Seeing Johnny Knoxville choke up twice in the picture hits a hard note you wouldn’t expect to feel in a Jackass film. It’s a reminder that we’re old now. Things aren’t the same way they were when a major motion picture hadn’t released something that vividly reactionary for a comedy before. The only picture to follow up on its delivery was Borat. Now both movies are considered old. Jackass audiences are now aging and struggling, even with medium-high incomes. Now, their teens want to see movies like Obsession or Backrooms because they reflect the hopelessness the world has imposed on them. Just for once, it would have been nice to feel like a kid again. Sadly, the old Jackass crew can’t provide that anymore. They’re too old to do what they used to do.
Instead of giving the keys to a new Jackass generation, it seems that Rachel, Poopies, Dark Shark, and his son are still waiting for their turn. Although let’s be realistic, a woman can’t get naked, get hit in the face or kicked in the genitals unless Rachel wants to earn her stripes by getting in a poop suit or doing the grossest things in the cast that the men can’t do. Why have these younger Jackass’ if you’re not going to put them to the test? This doesn’t have to be the last.
Charging audiences to see what’s essentially a weepy sizzle reel mixed with occasional new stunts is cheap. When the picture cut to the Golf Course Airhorn, I thought to myself, “Oh, thank God they’re finally going to have a new one.” Thinking for years about how they could upgrade that sketch. As the segment continued not to cut, the doom started to dawn on me: I had paid full ticket price for a Paramount Plus special. Now I feel like the Jackass.
