• Literally Anything: Movies
  • Film Index
  • The Criterion Collection
  • Collections
  • Academy Award Nominees
  • Notes and Links
  • About
  LITERALLY ANYTHING: MOVIES

Updates

Jackass Forever (2022)

4/7/2022

Comments

 
Picture
Rated R because I can't even say the title in front of my kids.  If you are reading this to wonder if Jackass Forever is okay to show to your kids, it absolutely isn't.  It has the most nudity ever.  It has so much nudity that you get used to people showing off genitals on camera.  There's also vomit and feces, per expectations with a Jackass film.  Language and violence and people doing horrible things to their bodies.  Yeah, Jackass Forever is not okay for your kids to watch.  R.

DIRECTOR: Jeff Tremaine

I suppose it is kismet (or my subconscious screaming) that I write about Jackass Forever after finishing my last Academy Award nominated film for 2021, Parallel Mothers.   I spent a month and change constantly watching films that were being recognized for being art (for the most part) and maybe I needed to purge.  But it also inspired me to write about the value of low art.  

Someone told me that there was an article about the death of art with the release of Jackass Forever.  While I acknowledge that if the only thing that aliens absorbed about human arts and culture was a Jackass movie, there would be a complete standstill in terms of cultural advancement because we would be left so far behind as a lesser culture.  But with all that in mind, I think the Jackass movies serve to do something that we desperately need to do as a culture: stop faking it.  We all need a really good laugh and that's what Jackass does.  Jackass Forever is one of those movies that makes you belly laugh alone and cry laughing, holding your side if you are with a group of people.  That may not seem like a lofty ambition, but there is absolutely value in it.  Because Jackass doesn't really view itself as art, despite the fact that there are some oddly artistic people behind the world of Jackass.  I'm mostly looking at Spike Jonze here, but there's more than that.

The reason that society allows for Jackass movies are two-fold.  One of them is insidious.  There is a large percentage of the population who thrive in standing unchallenged.  I'm going to come across as the ultimate snob, probably not for the first time (today), but a lot of people hate growing as people.  For this crowd, Jackass Forever is detrimental.  it doesn't challenge in the least, but that responsibility doesn't really fall on Jackass Forever either.  But the other end of the spectrum is the second reason that Jackass Forever exists and needs to exist is to remind us what it is like to be with friends.  Now, the Jackass crew seems to be a specific kind of friendship that boys have in high school and college.  But that friendship is very real.  When watching the boys from Jackass prank each other in the most painful fashions, I feel like I'm there, thankful to God that they aren't turning their attention my way.  Because, while they are hurt --often quite badly --they are mostly laughing.  There's a sense of pride of being in this group and getting hazed.  It's the consensual attitude of challenging each other to bring their A-games.

And everyone settles into roles because it makes them happy.  These are things that I would never in a million years do, but I appreciate and love because they have so much fun.  Never do these Jackass movies seem like a chore, which is an absolute marvel.  The second one of these things happened to me, I would be kvetching to anyone who would listen, complaining about the toxic attitude around me.  But fiction has tried to capture these traits in fictional pieces like Tag and it never really seems to work.  This is drinking from the tap and expressing a joie de vivre that I don't think we get in cinema anymore.  Yeah, there's no greater message that is written on purpose, but the theme is one of the bonds of friendship.  Jackass Forever is a reminder that childhood joy is always possible even in people who are greying and brittle, as shown by Johnny Knoxville's trip to the hospital.  It's honestly admirable.  But it is also a reminder that we are still close to those we lose.  While Ryan Dunn isn't addressed until the credits, I have to imagine that performing some of these stunts reminded the cast of the good times they had with their lost friend.

But it is also interesting to see the inclusion of what I consider to be Jackass: The Next Generation.  Man, I have so many thoughts but so few words (we'll see!) to express something about these kids.  At the beginning of the TV shows and films, Knoxville warns the audience to not try any of these stunts with your dumb little buddies.  Of course, there was always going to be those who took that warning as a challenge, as I think the cast of Jackass always intended.  But it is funny to see these characters deal with reality in real time.  There are four add-ons to the crew that stand out, but I only want to talk about Poopies. Yeah, he goes by "Poopies" the entire movie and that's the best part about him.  They literally say his name and I start giggling (because I'm not afraid of looking absurd to people.) Poopies seems like he was built to be part of the Jackass crowd.  He has this self-flagellating nickname, like Wee-Man, and seems like he's down to clown.  But every time that people start looking at him to do something in the movie, there's an honest look of fear.  Something became very real for him with this movie that I don't think that he was prepped for before.  Maybe he thought that his name would carry him for the entire film because his name is very funny, but I might have more in common with Poopies than anyone else in the movie.  He hasn't been conditioned that anything here is normal.  The fear that he experiences is real.  Yet, there's a percentage of him that is joyful as heck.  He's hanging out with the people who modeled him to be who he is, as goofy as that is.  

I really hated when Martin Scorsese attacked Marvel for being the death of cinema.  Cinema is more than one thing.  Now, I tend to watch high art more than I don't.  But I don't like that people crap on movies like this.  Yeah, you need to watch more than Jackass Forever. But the fact that a movie can make you feel like you are hanging out with your dumb little buddies, carefree, is something very special.  As long as you are challenging yourself, watch a Jackass movie from time to time.  They are really funny.  Sure, they are really raunchy, but that's not the worst thing in the world either. 
Comments

    Film is great.  It can challenge us.   It can entertain us.  It can puzzle us.  It can awaken us.  

    It can often do all these things at the same time.  

    I encourage all you students of film to challenge themselves with this film blog.  Watch stuff outside your comfort zone.  Go beyond what looks cool or what is easy to swallow.  Expand your horizons and move beyond your gut reactions.  

    We live in an era where we can watch any movie we want in the comfort of our homes.  Take advantage of that and explore.

    Author

    Mr. H has watched an upsetting amount of movies.  They bring him a level of joy that few things have achieved.

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Literally Anything: Movies
  • Film Index
  • The Criterion Collection
  • Collections
  • Academy Award Nominees
  • Notes and Links
  • About