Jackass Forever Review

After a decade’s long break the Jackass crew is back for a fourth cinematic outing where they perform stunts, pranks and acts of self-harm.

When I review a film I normally give a brief plot synopsis. With Jackass Forever that isn’t possible since it’s a film with no plot or story, it’s about a group of men (and one woman) who get to dick around and hurt themselves for our entertainment. The only way to go about reviewing the fourth Jackass film (the first I have ever seen) is to just talk about what worked and what didn’t.

Jackass Forever starts with a parody of kaiju films which sets the tone for the rest of the film. The monster in question was Chris Pontius’ cock and balls were painted green and in the sequence the monster uses its special projectile and getting into a fight with a small snapping turtle. This sequence was one of the most expensive sequences in the film because it was filmed in the studio, had some extras and destroyed a lot of the set. The rest of the film was split into 35 stunts and pranks of various length and quality.

My favourite sequences were “Silence of the Lambs” and “The Spider Helmet.” I was laughing so much during those sequences that I was crying. There was a sadistic glee to watching these people getting tortured for our amusement. “Silence of the Lambs” was hilarious because a few members of the crew were locked in a pitch-black room and were attacked with cattle prods, fake snakes and forced into another room filled with traps. It was like an extreme version of Top Gear/The Grand Tour because it’s the sort of thing that trio would done to each other.

“The Spider Helmet” was incredibly simple, two men wore a connected helmet with a large tarantula inserted in the pipe between them. One of the men was Darkshark, an ex-convict who was a big, strong man, and had a fear of spiders, so it was cruelly funny when he had to face his fears, especially when he broke the chair he was tied to.

Other sections weren’t as funny. It was clear that some of the weaker stunts were cut to a minimum, so they didn’t overstay their welcome. The two pranks that were pulled on the general public felt too fake and staged which reduced the potential humour. During the stunts and game show sections like the “Dum Dum Game”, the chemistry between the crew felt natural and believable. It was like watching friends enjoying each other’s company and doing things they were way too old to perform.

Jackass Forever was a film that had a lot of testicular and penial trauma. The two main incidents were “Bee Genitals” and “The Cup Test.” I was watching through my fingers and my legs crossed as Steve-O and Danger Ehren put their balls through unimaginable tortures. I whined more during this film than any horror flick. I yelled ‘oh Christ’ in the cinema when the film showed one of Ehren’s testicles was bleeding.

Jackass Forever did have a disclaimer at the end saying, ‘no animals were harmed during production.’ However, it still felt uncomfortable watching animals being used for entertainment. A snake was taunted to bite a man, the tarantula was made to bite another man, and worst of all was a bear being brought in to torture Ehren. It was funny to see Ehren reacting to the bear, but in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but feel bad for the bear who was made to eat food from Ehren’s body. It’s a bear, it’s a dangerous animal that can’t be trained.

Jackass Forever is lowbrow comedy and what it offers is hit and miss. But when it hits, it hits hard.