ST. LOUIS — Whenever someone says they laughed out loud, aka LOL, there's a good chance they actually didn't laugh out loud. They may have laughed a few times or for a certain period of time, but most likely it wasn't as funny as it originally seemed. On the other hand, I can say with absolute certainty that "Jackass: Forever" is laugh out loud entertainment.
This movie represented the most laughing I have done in a theater since 2005's "Wedding Crashers," which made my dad and I leave the theater for a few minutes due to laughing so incredibly hard. Like the first three films, there is no real script, just concepts brought to the table by these happy-go-lucky group of comedic stunt performers. The pranks here take the original 2000 "Jackass" to a whole new level of bizarre pranking that borders on unlawful punishment towards a man's private parts.
It's safe to say that if the pranksters pushed the boundaries in the first three movies, they blew the entire boundary foundation up with "Forever." You will never look at a man's most private area and bees quite the same ever again. The opening sequence stomps out anything Michael Bay has done in the past two years, depicting an attack of one semi-naked man on an entire city of innocent souls. I can assure you that this is in no way a diet attempt at "Jackass" adventures; it's the boldest one yet.
Johnny Knoxville, Wee-Man, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, "Danger" Ehren McGhehey, Preston Lacy, and Dave England all return and take on the most outrageous stunts like the godfathers of mayhem that they are. Newcomers like Rachel Wolfson, Davon Wilson, and Tyler The Creator make an instant claim to fame in their introductions. Sean, aka Poopsies, gets the honor of kissing a snake.
In one hilarious riff on botox, Wolfson has a scorpion crawl up on her chin and take a few stabs. Danger Ehren has a very serious encounter with a bear while tied to a chair and wearing a shirt that reads, "too many books, too little time." The cast is always winking at the camera while in a sudden moment of shock, bringing the surrealness of their endeavors together with true best friend sincerity.
What makes the pranks and crazy stunts endure so well is the camaraderie and passion they have for both the adventures and each other. This is still just a bunch of friends doing crazy things together with director Jeff Tremaine laughing uncontrollably, that is when he's not getting launched out of a piano chair higher than any filmmaker has ever experienced on set.
Nothing has changed, and that makes it all much more enjoyable. It's the closeness of these gents and the willingness to do these things as entertainment that makes it all resonate and hold up. Instead of just coming back together for sake of a good laugh, the viewer can tell they are still having as much fun here as the viewers.
There's an inane hilarity in watching a bunch of people getting stuck in a trio of dark rooms, with what they think is a very real rattlesnake slinking around the floor on the loose. That is also where you get to see just how real these stunts can be, and the legit fright in their faces. When Knoxville bravely attempts to teach a raging bull magic again and gets flipped, everybody has to check and make sure he is okay afterwards. Soon after, he's leaving the hospital and laughing out loud again.
What's impressive about "Jackass: Forever" is that Knoxville and company are still willing to go to the brink of human danger, all in the name of friendship and entertainment. Can the whole family enjoy this one? If they can handle a lot of naked male parts and the constant upping of the ante from the cast, sure it's one for the whole family. But it earns the R-rating, refusing to pull the camera away even in the most compromising and uncomfortable moments. Steve-O will need some hugs after this one.
It's true. "Jackass: Forever" won't crack the top 10 list for the Academy Awards this month, because they still don't like comedies that make a film critic nearly fall out of his seat laughing, all the while crossing his legs as tight as possible to promise his body this will never happen to him.
Turn your brain off, bring a tissue for the laugh tears, and just enjoy what these fearless creators have to offer with their concepts. You won't find this kind of entertainment anywhere else.
