
For a movie with so many charged objects – from snakes to lip injectors to bungee cords to rectal projectiles and even a handsy robot – there’s only so much spark left for a fifth and presumed final installment in this notorious scatological and masochistic prank series. Jeff Tremaine’s Jackass: Best and Last (C) is another slapstick stunt anthology filled with outrageous new scenarios along with several exhumed from the vaults of the show rooted in MTV’s golden reality show age. With ring leader Johnny Knoxville on the edge of age 50 accompanied by graying hooligans such as Steve-O and Chris Pontius, there’s occasionally an elegaic or valedictory vibe to the installment and as much sentiment as can be squeezed between the margins of the machismo, the candor of their camera and the “we’re getting old” hot takes on colonoscopy and prostate exams. This funhouse of generally well-meaning male bonding is as successful as it is head-scratching in equal Evel Kneivelesque doses, with a human marionette extravaganza, a full-frontal Olympic competition, an unexpected product plug for a toy car and more curtain calls than The Return of the King. These Grand Guignols of gross-out humor even manage to coerce cameos out of Brad Pitt and Paul Walter Hauser. But many of their experiments neither amuse nor titillate, leaving the perpetually tickled troupe to tread water. Their ride into the sunset is not intended to leave these guys with any dignity, but undoubtedly this film will brings some smiles to viewers’ faces as much as a slack to their jaws.