'Is Butterbean okay?' A farewell to Jackass

I have probably never laughed harder in a movie theater than I laughed at the first two Jackass movies. The Jackass boys ruled the aughts, from the flagship show to the film series, to spinoffs Viva La Bam and Wildboyz. They helped shepherd the transition from the TRL era of MTV to the version of MTV that simply runs episodes of Ridiculousness on a loop. The crew originally formed under the stewardship of director Jeff Tremaine and producer Spike Jonze from parallel-thinking groups of skaters and punks: Johnny Knoxville, Tremaine, Wee-Man, Steve-O, Chris Pontius and put-upon cameraman Rick Kosick worked together for Larry Flynt's skate magazine Big Brother, while Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, Brandon DiCamillo, Rake Yohn and Raab Himself* were already putting out an incredibly popular serious of quasi-skate videos under the CKY banner (short for Camp Kill Yourself, which was also the name of the band that Margera's brother played in). Preston Lacy, Danger Ehren, and Dave England came aboard as the Jackass show was being put together, and the band was more or less complete.

*Although only Margera and Dunn were ever "official" members of the Jackass crew, the other CKY guys were an important part of the show's early success – particularly DiCamillo, an undersung Swiss army knife and the most creative member of that crew, who quickly took himself out of the equation due to his hatred of travel outside of Pennsylvania. And this is to say nothing of the all-important role of Margera's endlessly patient parents, April and Phil.

In my (first) post on Love Island USA, I wrote about the importance of the Jackass franchise as one of the foremost examples of non-toxic male culture, and how important it is as both an artifact and an ongoing tool to allow men to come together and enjoy extremely stupid friendship in a very positive way. Jackass is absolutely not for everyone, nor should it be. It is often disgusting (there is pee and poop and puke and horse semen), and understandably many people don't like to watch people willfully hurting themselves. But the bond of all of these dumb people coming together to celebrate what makes them dumb together continues to deepen, strengthen, and become more profound.

That profundity comes to a head in Jackass: Best and Last, the fifth movie in the series (if you don't count the execrable Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, which you shouldn't), which exists as both a recap and culmination of the previous 26-ish years of these guys wrecking their bodies and brains for the sheer good hang of it all. (They certainly didn't do it for the money, as with the exception of Knoxville and Margera, many of these guys ended up very, very far from rich.) (In the case of recent addition Poopies, he famously ended up broke and working construction after joining the crew for the fourth movie, and when he got injured in the line of Jackass duty for Discovery Channel's Shark Week, he didn't have insurance.)

Over the years, the crew has drifted in and out of trouble and sobriety and interpersonal feuds. Bam Margera, who has struggled with substance abuse problems for the better part of the past 20 years, was in a spiral for a very long time following the 2011 drunk driving death of Ryan Dunn, his best friend. It was felt very intensely at the time, but Dunn's death is really the dividing line in the Jackass story. Everything after Ryan Dunn has a veneer of sadness or a sense that something is missing, but it truly soured the Margera/Knoxville divide, two camps that never fully felt like they belonged to the other. 2022's Jackass Forever, the fourth film and first to not feature Dunn, was meant to star Margera, but after only taping for a few days, Margera was fired from the production for being a liability. In the end, only one brief scene included Margera in the theatrical release. The two sides sued each other before settling out of court.

Jackass: Best and Last is exactly what it says on the tin: a collection of all-new footage interspersed with the very best of Jackass past, including some new and underseen footage. The film begins with the stunt that kicked off the whole thing: Knoxville (still being referred to by his real name, PJ Clapp, by his co-conspirators) testing out self-defense gear for Big Brother by shooting himself in the chest in a canyon while wearing a bulletproof vest. There is lots of hilarious new stuff and lots of extremely poignant introspection by the crew, plus reflections on stunts and events past. It also serves as a nice thank-you and send-off to the new blood that was introduced in Jackass Forever as a means of passing the torch that now seems like it's not going to necessarily work out as intended. The new blood – Zach "Zackass" Holmes, Poopies, Jasper, Dark Shark and Rachel Wolfson – all get chances to shine, although Wolfson doesn't get as much to do this time around. Even intrepid and vomit-prone cameraman Lance Bangs gets a showcase ... and deservedly so.

The miles and the years are evident in 2026. Knoxville is fully grey, Steve-O is looking his age, and as they point out within the movie, Dave England now looks like a catcher's mitt. They all express deep sadness for the loss of Dunn and for leaving Jackass behind, but it's clear that it's time to go. Margera didn't participate in the filming of the new movie, but he's all over it from start to finish, including a new version of a bit from Jackass Forever that he was excised from last time around (and makes much better due to his avowed fear of snakes). Margera's parents were on hand at the Jackass: Best and Last premiere, and Margera is currently sober and making amends with his family as well, so hopefully things are on the right track as that goes.

Some may quibble with the inclusion of maybe 30-40 percent recycled material making up the film (maybe more), but it's hard to complain when the bits are as good as they are, and that the whole point of this movie is to get the gang together one more time to have quality hang time with the boys. Every Jackass movie is to be cherished, and this one is no exception. The end credits hit hard, showing the passage of time and lifting up Dunn, but it culminates in two wonderful ways post-credits. First, we have Knoxville and Tremaine in their motel room after that first Big Brother gun stunt, admitting their fear and still feeling residual exhilaration, two guys in their early 20s with no idea where their lives were about to go. The very last bit is one that somehow wraps up everything about the Jackass aesthetic and mission statement: Dave England's "Door Bumper." 30 seconds of a close-up of someone flicking a spring door stop over and over. It's something that everyone who has lived with a spring door stop has done at some point. You pull it back and let it go. Listen to the weird sound. Watch the optical illusion of the spring dancing and vibrating. You do it again. You can't help yourself. It's there and you're bored, so what else are you going to do? That shared experience of boredom, fascination and compulsion are key to Jackass and to the community that understands why it's important and relatable.

I'm glad they gave me one last chance to come back and spend time with these stupid, stupid boys. And of course, we all need to make sure Butterbean is okay.

The perfect coda to the release of the final Jackass movie is that prior to screenings of Toy Story 5 in its opening weekend (and the same opening weekend as Jackass: Best and Last), 24 years after the release of Jackass The Movie, there is a teaser for the latest installment of the Ice Age franchise. It may seem a little familiar to you.

And that's because that Ice Age trailer – a family franchise that has grossed over $6 billion worldwide – is a direct (in a couple instances shot for shot) homage to the opening of Jackass The Movie.

The cultural impact and importance of Jackass simply cannot be overstated. They changed MTV, they changed the culture, and they changed how men interact with and understand other men. We'll miss you, boys. Long may you wave.