If this is truly the last entry in the Jackass legacy, it goes out with love, pain, a lot of laughs and moments that will make you physically sick, which makes it a success. While there aren't too many new segments, due primarily to the age of the cast, the unseen moments and other memories bring all the entertainment that a Jackass movie requires. This one is out now.
“Johnny Knoxville and the gang return for one final fling at the big screen. Featuring all-new stunts and stupidity along with the greatest hits and hardest laughs from the past. jackass best and last is a joyously raucous celebration of all the mischievous camaraderie that you’ve come to love and expect from these idiots over the past 25 years. So grab your dumb little buddies, and get ready to laugh harder than ever – one last time.”
When Jackass first appeared on MTV in 2000, it was hard to imagine that a featuring a group of guys doing incredibly stupid and dangerous things to themselves would still be producing content more than 25 years later. Created by Johnny Knoxville, Jeff Tremaine, and Spike Jonze, the series took stunts and pranks and turned them into a mainstream phenomenon. Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius, Wee Man, and the rest of the crew became familiar faces, launching a franchise that expanded into several movies and influenced an entire generation of internet stunt/prank videos. Now, with Jackass: Best and Last, the gang is supposedly taking one final bow, and rather than making another traditional sequel, the film looks back at the moments that made the franchise what it is while throwing in some previously unseen footage and a few new stunts for good measure.
The result is part greatest-hits collection, part reunion, and part final opportunity for these guys to hurt themselves for our amusement. There is plenty of familiar material from the show and previous movies, but the archival footage isn’t just a collection of scenes we’ve already seen. Some of the most interesting moments come from extended footage, deleted scenes, and stunts that never made it onto television or into the earlier films. For longtime fans, seeing some of these lost moments is a big part of the appeal. It also serves as a reminder of just how much these guys have put themselves through over the years, and how much of the franchise’s appeal comes from the camaraderie between them. They may be grown men with considerably more mileage on their bodies, but put them together and the same juvenile spirit is still there.
The physical comedy remains the strongest part of the Jackass formula. There is something undeniably funny about watching someone willingly put themselves through an absurd situation. The crew’s willingness to commit to a gag, no matter how ridiculous it becomes, is what separates the better moments from other humor that anyone could attempt. Even when the film revisits old favorites, the clips still demonstrate the creativity behind some of the stunts and the willingness of the performers to take a ridiculous idea as far as it can go. The new material provides a few more opportunities for the gang to put themselves through the wringer, and the film gets some mileage out of watching the older members of the crew react to the younger ones carrying on the tradition.
Of course, this is still Jackass, so there is only so long before things become thoroughly disgusting. The franchise has always relied on bodily fluids, nudity, painful injuries, and gross-out gags to get a reaction, and Best and Last is certainly not going to change anyone’s mind about that approach. Some of the stunts are funny because of their physicality or the sheer absurdity of the situation, while others seem designed primarily to make the audience recoil is disgust. The latter has always been the part of Jackass that I have the hardest time with, and there are moments here that go too far for my taste. I understand that the gross-out material is part of the franchise’s identity, and fans who enjoy that side of the humor will find plenty to appreciate. Personally, I would rather see the crew get creative with a dangerous physical gag than watch another sequence built around how disgusting they can make something.
As a final installment, the film also has a slightly different feeling from the previous entries. The mix of old footage, unseen material, and new stunts makes it feel more reflective than a standard Jackass movie, even if reflection isn’t exactly what these guys are known for. There is something oddly touching about seeing the group revisit their history and acknowledge that this particular chapter of their lives may be coming to an end. The franchise has always been about friendship as much as stupidity, and that bond gives the retrospective portions a little more weight than they might otherwise have had. At the same time, the reliance on older material means this doesn’t always feel like a full-fledged new movie. If you’re expecting an uninterrupted run of fresh stunts, you may find the balance a little disappointing.
Video
The Blu-ray presents the film in 1080p widescreen at 1.85:1, and the picture looks good throughout. One of the interesting challenges with a film like this is that it combines newly filmed material with footage originating from different periods and formats. The archival material naturally varies in appearance, but that is part of the film’s history. The newer footage looks clean and detailed, while the older clips remain perfectly watchable.
Audio
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track does what it needs to do. Dialogue, reactions, music, and the sound of all the chaos are presented clearly.
Special Features
The Blu-ray includes a deleted-scenes montage running approximately 17 minutes. Given how much footage the crew has accumulated over the years, this is a particularly appropriate extra for a film built around revisiting the past and showing material that never made it into the finished production. The unused footage offers more of the same questionable decisions and ridiculous behavior, and fans who are still hungry for more after the movie will appreciate having another batch of material to watch.
A slip cover and digital code are also included.
Jackass: Best and Last is a fitting farewell to a franchise that has spent more than two decades proving that there is apparently no limit to the stupid things people will do for a laugh. The best physical gags still deliver, the unseen footage gives longtime fans a reason to revisit the series, and the group’s chemistry remains a big part of what makes the whole enterprise work. Unfortunately, the film leans on its history enough that it doesn’t always feel like an entirely new adventure, and the disgusting material is as excessive as ever. That last point is a matter of taste, of course.
Whether this really is the last time we’ll see these guys together remains to be seen, but if it is, they’ve certainly left behind a legacy of outrageous stunts, questionable judgment, and a remarkable amount of pain inflicted in the name of comedy. This one is out now.
