The brilliant comedian Peter Sellers died in 1980 at age 54. The character most closely associated with him was Inspector Clouseau, the foolish and spectacularly clumsy French police detective he played in five films. Sellers’ death should have brought the series to an end, but MGM’s greed led to a dubious solution.
In 1982, two years after Sellers died, “Trail of the Pink Panther” was released. Another film was cobbled together using a body double filmed from behind and a plot in which characters from the series tell a journalist about Clouseau, who has disappeared and may be dead. The “recollections” served as an excuse to use footage left on the cutting-room floor from previous films, mainly “Revenge of the Pink Panther,” including some shots that had already been used. Sellers’ widow sued and was awarded damages for the harm done to her husband’s reputation.
I was reminded of that sorry episode while watching “Jackass: Best and Last,” which declares its intention to be the final film in the series. The reality-slapstick-extreme stunt troupe first emerged in a popular and controversial television series that aired on MTV from 2000 to 2002, then evolved into a film franchise. Four “Jackass” films and the spinoff “Bad Grandpa” were released between 2002 and 2022. There were also the “.5” films, companion features for each production built around interviews with cast members and outtakes that did not make the original movies.
The title suggests that the latest film is both the last in the series and a collection of its “best.” That does not mean it features the newest and finest stunts. Rather, it recycles material from more than a quarter-century in which the “Jackass” crew risked their lives, abused their bodies and set a new standard for physical gross-out humor on the big screen.
Put simply, half of the 90-minute film consists of footage that appeared in earlier movies and that devoted fans will surely know well. Steve-O is launched into the air inside a portable toilet, for example, while the group is once again trapped in a dark room with a rattlesnake.
There are also “nostalgic moments” that did not appear in the films or television series. The movie opens with a 1998 video in which group leader Johnny Knoxville puts on a bulletproof vest, adds a layer of pornographic magazines and then shoots himself in the stomach with a handgun — the seeds of madness from which the series and films would grow.
Unlike in the Sellers story, the “Jackass” crew members are still alive. That is, apart from Ryan Dunn, who died at age 34 in a 2011 car crash while driving drunk, and Bam Margera, who was removed from the previous film, “Jackass Forever,” after using drugs and alcohol — apparently in quantities considered excessive even by the group’s standards.
Still, some survived and made it this far. The freak show includes Steve-O, who miraculously survived years of drug addiction; stunt performer Chris Pontius; the diminutive Jason “Wee Man” Acuña; and Zach Holmes, a newer addition who could be a poster boy for morbid obesity.
The previous film also introduced a woman to the group, comedian and stunt performer Rachel Wolfson, though her participation in the stunts here is less than token. Her role is mainly to stand on the sidelines and watch, apparently so the film does not look like a complete sausage fest.
From 'Jackass: Best and Last'
(Photo: Courtesy of Tulip Entertainment)
“Best and Last” is a remnant of another era. It opens with the MTV logo — the revolutionary music channel of the 1980s that long ago lost its status and cultural relevance and now serves mainly as a recycling bin for reality television trash. The logo is a fitting opening chord.
During the credits, the group is introduced to Bonnie Tyler’s 1980s hit “Holding Out for a Hero” inside a room with a moving floor reminiscent of Jamiroquai’s 30-year-old “Virtual Insanity” video. Each member is attacked in ways that recreate or recycle stunts from earlier films. The combination sets the overall tone: the corpse of a subculture being kept alive on a ventilator.
From 'Jackass: Best and Last'
(Photo: Courtesy of Tulip Entertainment)
The core members of the group are now between 50 and 56. At that age, exposing their bodies during extreme stunts is less visually appealing — not that any of them were ever likely to pursue modeling as a parallel career.
What worked when they were reckless young men who did not care what anyone thought becomes less amusing, and far more dangerous, at their current age. Fans of this kind of humor will still laugh, but the word “pathetic” is not entirely irrelevant.
It is unclear how many members of Generation X and how many millennials will still find satisfaction in recycled versions of familiar stunts. It is even less clear what interest Generation Z viewers will find in performers who are twice or three times their age.
In 2013, Knoxville required extensive makeup to become 80-year-old Irving Zisman in “Bad Grandpa.” He is now 56, has a 30-year-old daughter and may well be a grandfather himself.
Most of the new material consists of age-appropriate stunts. Steve-O undergoes a prostate exam performed by a robot whose pincers are pushed into his rectum. Sean “Poopies” McInerney, another newcomer from the previous film, receives a massive and deeply unappealing injection of hyaluronic acid that causes his lips to swell.
From 'Jackass: Best and Last'
(Photo: Courtesy of Tulip Entertainment)
There is also a stunt involving the loss of control over bodily functions. And, of course, there are always testicles. What else can be said about the dangling body part that serves as the leitmotif of the group’s stunts? Anyone who has missed seeing that particular part of the anatomy beaten and electrocuted will be fully satisfied.
The “Jackass” films are low-budget productions. At their peak, “Jackass 3D” in 2010 and “Bad Grandpa” in 2013 grossed $171 million and $161 million, respectively. The box office for “Jackass Forever” in 2022 fell by more than 60%.
Judging by the first two weekends since “Best and Last” opened in the United States, its earnings will continue to shrink. For a film that is half recycled, it is entirely fitting that it should be the swan song of a bruised and battered franchise.