VOD: Jackass Forever (dir: Jeff Tremaine, 2022)

",,,and twenty years later, we're still doing the same old s**t!"

Here is one of perhaps the more predictable reunions ten years on, as the older but definitely not wiser crew get back together plus some new friends to throw themselves into another round of wholly inadvisable stunts and pranks for our guilty entertainment.  Right from the Godzilla-with-a-twist opening, the old formula swings into action and simply delivers what they and the fans want, and the film delivers very well indeed on that score.  Forever displays the same strengths as the previous outings: deep friendship, total immaturity and utter gleeful recklessness, with setups ranging from elaborate to simple and from silly to downright sadistic, but there is no filler in this film.  There are updated plays on favourite past sketches, with highlights including Steve-O getting a bee-beard (and not on his face), effective hidden-camera stunts and an extraordinary sequence with a bear.  Jackass may still be one of the simplest (and some might say lowest) forms of entertainment, but the joyful camaraderie and childish reliance on genital/scatalogical/pain-inflicting humour also makes it consistently laugh-out-loud entertaining.