Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Jackass 4.5’ on Netflix, a Mostly Inessential Odds-‘n’-Sods Collection of ‘Jackass Forever’ Outtakes

Clarification time: Jackass Forever is on Paramount+, and its spinoff, Jackass 4.5, is on Netflix, and don’t ask why such an illogicality exists, because the answer is likely quite boring and has to do with the what-have-yous of business contracts. So hopefully the diehardest of Jackasseteers subscribe to both streaming services, or at least possess enough wily faculties to exploit a free trial period. Jackass 4.5 is the traditional compilation of outtakes and behind-the-scenes content (see also: Jackass 2.5 and Jackass 3.5) that’s sure to fulfill your insatiable desire for more genital-mutilation incidents and gag-and-chunder scenes, as if the regular film doesn’t already have enough of that stuff. So the question is, does it feature some pranktastic gems, or is it self-evident why these moments didn’t make the cut the first time around?

JACKASS 4.5: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: I gotta say right off the bat, without spoiling anything of course, that the man known as Dark Shark – father of recent Jackass inductee Jasper Dolphin – endured an incredibly grueling endeavor in which he faced his greatest fear, panicked to the point where he thought he was having a heart attack, AND ENDED UP ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR. You can’t help but ache for the guy. Well, at least a fraction of the audience for Jackass Forever will see the bit, instead of nobody, right? And to be brutally honest, part of the prank doesn’t work, because it’s rendered overly elaborate by head Jackass guy Johnny Knoxville, so you understand why it didn’t make the final cut. Sometimes, when you’re torturing a poor soul, willing or otherwise, simplicity is king.

That moment caps Jackass 4.5’s 90 minutes of hodgepodge, some of it new and disgusting, some of it repetitive if you’ve seen Jackass Forever (and why would you be watching this if you hadn’t?). We get scenes from a Jackass cast-and-crew beach party, a reintroduction to new cast members (Poopies, Jasper, Zach, Rachel, Eric), interviews with principal creatives about how and why the movie came together after a decade-long break and the inevitable sequence addressing how the Covid pandemic interrupted filming for six months. Of course, the latter part includes a fake Covid safety meeting in which all parties sit around a big table and are bowled over by the sudden surprise inflation of a bouncy house. You never know when a prank is coming, and special guest Eric Andre, after peeing all over himself when the porta-potty he’s using explodes, says that merely being on set has you constantly on edge. Sounds like fun!

Fresh gags include the self-explanatory “HOT SAUCE ENEMA” and a variation on “CUP TEST” that sees Danger Ehren getting his genitals smashed by a bowling ball. Similarly, tennis player Shannon Gibbs fires 200 mph serves at Jackasses dressed like clowns. Producer Spike Jonze and director Jeff Tremaine spearhead a look at the Jackass Forever opening sequence, bragging about how they got top-tier behind-the-camera talent to render Chris Pontius’ penis and testicles a rampaging Godzilla on a miniature city set. We: See camera operator Lance Bangs puke twice (final tally while filming Jackass Forever: six times). Laugh at “SWINGSET GAUNTLET,” which is too funny to not have made the main movie. And marvel at the sweet shots they get of Poopies water skiing off a ramp with a rocket pack on his back. Will this be the final word on Jackass? They do not answer that question definitively.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Borat Leftovers or whatever that was called; the totally unwatchable Anchorman spinoff/non-sequel/glorified DVD bonus feature that took deleted scenes and cobbled them together with voiceover.

Performance Worth Watching: In a two-second bit, Poopies stands on top of a ladder and sledgehammers it out from under himself. Simple. Genius. Art.

Memorable Dialogue: Rachel, on joining the cast: “That was pretty much my first day, meeting everyone and seeing all their dicks and buttholes. It felt like family after that.”

Sex and Skin: What about “dicks and buttholes” did you not understand?

Our Take: Jackass 4.5 features possibly the most revolting thing I’ve ever seen in a movie: Jackasseteers putting sashimi beneath the fat folds and in the butt crack of 400-lb. man Zach Holmes, wrapping him in cellophane, making him run laps until he’s drenched with sweat, then eating the fish. Pretty much everyone on screen barfs. I had to look away. Consider yourself warned.

That sequence in itself may be enough to suggest redirecting your attention, but those watching leftovers from a Jackass movie know what they’re getting into. The “regular” films are barely “films” at all, and these in-betweener collections of random crapola are even less so. I’ll leave the alternate angles on Steve-O’s tumbling porta-potty bit, which reminds us how he got a lot of feces in his mouth, and Knoxville’s Bad Grandpa bits. But I’ll take the trivia (the guy who puppeteered The Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man also puppeteered Pontius’ schwantz!), more Eric Andre footage, the amusingly anti-articulate commentary from many involved parties, and a greater appreciation for how Knoxville and co. successfully exploit each other’s phobias, gullibility, stupidity and blatant lack of self-preservation.

Our Call: Jackass 4.5 is, of course, for Jackass completists only. STREAM IT, but keep in mind, more casual fans should know that the best clips from this will be on YouTube by the time you finish reading this sentence.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.