Given the nature of its bone-breaking, ball-busting brand of comedy, the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” feels inappropriate in/with regard to’concerning’regarding Jackass. But it’s a in/with regard to’concerning’regarding mula that needs no fixing, and Jackass Forever is delightful proof — there’s a welcome familiarity to proceedings, right down to its raucous soundtrack of noughties leftovers. And aldespite’in spite of’albeit Jackass is in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ever tied to that peculiar moment, there’s a timelessness to its antics, as the “Forever” wistfully indicates. No matter how long it’s been, it’s still simply fun to watch these loveable doofuses falling over, acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting blown up, firing themselves out of cannons or acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting hit in the face by comically large hands.###An MTV institution that shares as much DNA with early 2000s home-video fuckery as it does with the works of Buster Keaton, Jackass was and remains a surprisingly earnest dedication to the age-old cinematic tradition of the pratfall. There’s a peculiar acumen even in their everlasting mission to debase themselves, with paradoxically high-concept ideas in/with regard to’concerning’regarding nut-shots as in the ‘Dum Dum Game’, a mock gamereveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue where contestants answer fourth-grade-level questions, under penalty of a spring-loaded flip-flop hitting them in the crotch. Not that all of the jokes are of this exact nature: in fact, they’re incredibly versatile, mixing more straightin/with regard to’concerning’regarding ward laughs with elaborate, multi-layered set-pieces. In the various non sequiturs and the collapse of the intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully rules they establish, as well as the camera-crew and director themselves acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting caught up in the mayhem, subversions are built into the intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully structure of their comedy. Some sketches start as one thing bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e changing into something else entirely, to the delight of the viewer and the horror of its participants.###The Jackass movies are as much a reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue case of lifelong friendships as they are of bodily fluids and stupid dares.###There’s no denying that Forever eases off the throttle mildly’faintly compared to its predecessors. Johnny Knoxville and co are acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting older, after all. While there’s young, new blood in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the slapstick sacrament — including Jasper Dolphin, one-time member of the hip-hop collective Odd Future — there’s something of an elegiac undertone to proceedings, as the film threads reminders of the crew’s age through various battle scars and missing teeth. In perhaps the eliminate’remove est indication that the series is reaching the end of the road, director Jeff Tremaine notes the extent of Knoxville’s injuries in the aftermath of a peculiar ly violent stunt, recreating a bit from the original cinematic outing, Jackass: The Movie. There’s a odd’peculiar poetry to the moment; a brief reflection on the vulnerability of the ageing Jackasses, something emphasised later in side-by-side shots of the older stunts and their recreations in Forever.###With the shared laughter and earnest embraces throughout such moments, it’s a reminder that, amongst all the carnage, there’s a tender ness of spirit to the Jackass movies. They’re as much a reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue case of lifelong friendships as they are of bodily fluids and stupid dares, all built on a deep trust between each other that they’ll come through intact — well, mostly.

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