There’s a moment at the very end of Jackass: Best and Last that stuck with me. Johnny Knoxville, the de facto leader of the group of aging pranksters and stunt performers that make up the cast of Jackass, is sitting in an electrocution chair. Sounds like classic Jackass, right? But things go differently this time.
At this point in the movie, Knoxville has already been shocked before in this very same chair after lying when answering a question. So when Steve-O asks Knoxville if this is really the last Jackass movie, I expected a similar silly response. But Knoxville doesn’t offer up a joke. Instead, he starts to tear up and chokes on his words. He confirms that, yes, sadly, this is the last movie. He’s not electrocuted, nor hit in the balls or slapped. Nobody laughs either. And the movie fades into its big, stupid finale.
It’s a moment that would have felt out of place in an earlier Jackass movie, but here, after 25 years, a TV show, and over a half dozen films and spin-off movies, the franchise and its injured stars have earned this tender moment. They’ve earned this victory lap. And as usual, with this new film, Jackass does something few other Hollywood franchises do anymore: end gracefully, on the terms of the creators, and in a way that feels perfect and satisfying.
I’ve been a fan of the Jackass franchise since watching the series repeatedly on MTV. I’ve seen every movie in the theater, despite not being old enough. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) So saying goodbye to the series via this last film, Best and Last, conjured up a lot of emotions that, honestly, I didn’t expect to feel while watching a grown man shit himself violently while playing Twister.
And there are plenty of gross and crass moments in Best and Last. You’ll see a lot of dicks, buttholes, vomit, and poop. The movie’s first real bit features Steve-O bending over, taking his pants off, and having a remote-controlled robot stick its metal finger up his ass. If you were worried (or hopeful) that this final movie would be more refined or grown up, you’ll be pleased (or disappointed) to discover that’s not the case. Despite being in there mid-40s to 50s, not much has changed, it seems…
But this isn’t your standard, fast-paced Jackass movie, either. It is different.
Best and Last plays more like the .5 movies than a traditional Jackass film. The .5 movies, like 2.5 and 3.5, featured behind-the-scenes moments, cast interviews, and a mix of old footage, new footage, and fresh clips from skits we’d seen before. And this is how Best and Last is formatted. This might disappoint folks wanting another 90 minutes of purely new Jackass content to laugh at. Yet this approach is smart. Best and Last is less a movie and more a visual greatest-hits album, and like the best of those albums, it mixes in new and old content to create something both retrospective and celebratory.
And because the movie includes lots of old footage—including the clip that started Jackass, which MTV never let them air, of Johnny Knoxville shooting himself while wearing a bulletproof vest—it gets to bring the whole gang back together, one last time. We get some archival footage of the late Ryan Dunn, some new, some old. We also get some new and old footage of estranged Jackass member Bam Margera. A bit with Margera getting trapped in a dark room and being screwed with is one of the highlights of the film.
As a longtime Jackass fan, I really enjoyed the vibes and pacing of Best and Last. The way it shows a few old clips and cut pieces of footage and then sprinkles in a new stunt, like Jasper getting attacked by a large ram, kept me smiling (and sometimes wincing) the whole time. I do wish the film included a few more new stunts with the whole cast. Oddly, footage shown during the credits seems to indicate there were more bits filmed, but not included. It’s a weird choice because some members of the cast, like Rachel Wolfson and Jasper, get almost zero screen time beyond being featured in background shots during stunts not involving them. I’m not sure why they were brought back beyond having them around to laugh.
That said, Jackass: Best and Last still worked for me as a send-off to the series. How many Hollywood franchises that have been around for 25 years get to just… end? And that ending was dictated entirely by the cast and crew who created it. Even more surprising, Jackass: Best and Last has the series go out on a greatest hits-like experience that is a treat for superfans, though newer viewers might not get it.
Best and Last isn’t, as its name implies, the best in the series. (That honor still belongs to Jackass 3D.) But it is the last and does feel like an earned, emotional goodbye to a franchise built around male friendship, failure, nut taps, and just laughing it up with your pals. Jackass: Best and Last is in theaters now.
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