Hi! I’m Eli! Welcome to my blog! I went to go see the new Jackass film, Best and Last, in theaters this week and what a range of emotion that was. Which is pretty crazy to say in itself about a Jackass film, but this band of wild, crazy dudes have been a part of my life for most all of it at this point and seeing Johnny Knoxville tear up and get emotional in this new film as he felt the series coming to a close honestly made me feel pretty bummed. To say I’m a fan of this series and these guys would almost feel like an understatement. There’s no other film or really even any piece of entertainment out there that’s anything like Jackass and every single one of the OGs along the way helped it to feel as fun, iconic, and batshit crazy as it was. There felt like no better time to rank the series than right now given the circumstances that it may very well be coming to a close for real. I’ll preface this one by saying, there’s really not a bad movie in the bunch of these. They’re all funny, crazy, gross, and gnarly in their own ways. If you don’t mind excessive amounts of bodily harm, male nudity, poop, and farts that is. Also, I won’t be including the ‘.5s’ in this ranking, I’ve seen them all, but this is going to stick to just the main films in the series. Now, let’s get into it!
#6: Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
This one was Johnny Knoxville doing his dirty old man character ‘Irving’ from various Jackass bits, but for an entire movie. I mean they tied a story into it as well by giving him a grandson and having them go on a cross-country road trip and everything, and I still found this movie to be funny and entertaining for sure. It just wasn’t the same without the crew ya know? It wasn’t really a true ‘Jackass’ movie, it was a Johnny Knoxville character work film with hidden camera pranks and some stunts throughout and the ‘Jackass’ tag was just attached to it because it was still made by Jeff Tremaine and Spike Jonze. For that alone, as good or fun of a time as it may be, it’s not going to live up in a rankings list with all of the other true ‘Jackass’ films that include all of the crew.
#5: Jackass: Best and Last
The newest and likely last film in the Jackass series was about a 50/50 mixture between new bits and some old ‘best of’ footage. Which was a lot of fun and a trip down memory lane kind of reliving the earlier and younger days of Jackass and then cutting to the modern day and watching a new bit, but it also has to be near the bottom for at least me personally when ranking all the movies for the simple fact that I had seen half the movie already. It was like an ode, a thank you, and a goodbye to fans while still giving us some modern craziness that we’ve come to expect from the gang. Perhaps the wildest and most intriguing bit for fans of the series in this movie was the opening scene, the never-before-seen footage of the very beginning of Jackass. When Johnny Knoxville was testing various self-defense equipment and the crescendo was him shooting himself in the chest with a .38 revolver to test a bulletproof vest. Absolutely insane and launched a whole era of insanity in its wake. The robot prostate exam with Steve-O was a pretty funny new segment from this one as well.
#4: Jackass Forever
Jackass Forever was the 4th film in the series and the first one released in over a decade. This was the first time that I and many others really started to question it like ‘My God, I can’t believe they’re still going to try doing this.’ I mean Johnny Knoxville had gray hair in this movie for God’s sake! That’s why some new faces were added to the mix with the OGs and honestly, it felt like they all really stepped up and delivered in this movie. Zack, Poopies, Rachel, Dark Shark, and Jasper. The 5th one not so much, Poopies still did a lot, but the rest felt like they really fell to the background. This was Danger Ehren’s movie though. You almost started feeling bad for him in this one honestly with how bad Johnny was giving it to him, but my goodness did he ever step up and deliver. From being locked in a room with a bear while tied to a chair with raw meat in his lap, to getting his nuts absolutely obliterated in the ‘Cup Test’ segment, you have to give it to the guy while feeling awful for him at the same time. Zack bike jumping off a ramp and into a pile of cacti, the hilarious ‘Silence of the Lambs’ prank segment, and Johnny getting absolutely destroyed by a bull in the ‘Magic Trick’ segment were some other very standout moments from this film.
#3: Jackass 3 (3-D)
I’m only saying 3-D because it was the original title of the film and it was released in 3-D in theaters, 2010, basically the height of the 3-D craze. I think that’s kind of stupid though because if you ever watch it now you’re not going to be seeing it in 3-D, so I just refer to it as Jackass 3 most of the time. There’s a certain level of emotion in this one as well though because it was the last time that the entire original crew was going to be in a film together. Ryan Dunn and Bam Margera had both fallen out of the series by the 4th film, Ryan because of his death obviously, and Bam and Johnny/Jeff had a falling out through Bam’s personal struggles. This one had some legendary moments though. The ‘High Five’ prank segment with the giant hand is hilarious, Danger Ehren did the crazy ‘Lamborghini Tooth Pull’, and Johnny got viciously laid out by Jared Allen in the ‘Blindside’ football bit which were all some big standout moments in this one for me. Steve-O stole the show though with his ride in the porta potty in ‘Poo Cocktail Supreme’ and his insane ‘Flaming Gauntlet’ segment.
#2: Jackass: The Movie
The original, where it all began. Well, I mean they had the TV show on MTV already by the time the first film came out but following the success of this first movie is when Jackass officially switched and became a film franchise. I just have so much nostalgia for this movie as well. My older brother got it on VHS at like 14-15 years old and I watched this with him and my dad when it was new back in the early 2000s, way before I ever should’ve. This one was great because it was the only movie before they were famous and recognizable to everyone, so they were able to pull a lot more pranks on strangers in public spaces and people bought into it entirely. The ‘Golf Course Air Horn’ and the ‘Rent-a-Car Demolition Derby’ were very funny candid, in-public pranks. Chris Pontius’s ‘Party Boy’ bit in Japan, Steve-O’s crazy ‘Alligator Tightrope’, Ryan Dunn’s hilarious toy car ‘Butt X-Ray’ segment, and Johnny getting knocked out by Butterbean in a department store are some other all-timer moments in this one for me. The giant shopping cart ride at the beginning of the film is legendary as well.
#1: Jackass Number Two
The 2nd film felt like they all came to play and were trying to up the ante and outdo themselves from what they delivered in the 1st movie. Most of the cast typically says the 2nd film is their favorite one as well. They were firing on all cylinders by this point. The band of characters were all still close and together and a lot of them were at their most drug/alcohol fueled and chaotic during this point in time as well which isn’t great for their personal lives, but it sure made for an entertaining film when the basis of it all is hurting yourself and performing fearless stunts. Some of the wildest, funniest, and/or most notable moments of this one to me are when Bam rides the wind tunnel and gets trapped in a trailer with a king cobra, Wee-Man getting pranked on the electric stool, Steve-O putting a fishhook in his cheek and tossing himself into shark infested waters, the ‘Riot Control Weapon’ segment with Bam, Ryan, and Johnny; the ‘Toro Totter’ with Pontius, Johnny, Bam, Ryan, and one pissed off bull; Johnny riding ‘The Red Rocket’ in a full blown Evel Knievel outfit, and the hilarious ‘Terror Taxi’ prank pulled on Danger Ehren near the end of the film.
That’ll just about do it for this one though folks! Hard to believe this franchise is actually coming to a close, but we all knew it inevitably had to happen sooner or later. These guys are getting older and there’s no way their bodies can withstand the damage that they once did, but we will have the content of them that we do have forever, and boy is it some wild content. Thanks for taking out some time to read along with me today! Do you agree with the ranking or how would you rank the Jackass films? Let me know and until next time, be good to one another!
