It's weird being in your 30s. As much as you're finally comfortable in your own skin and have most things figured out, you're also increasingly aware of the merciless march of time. It's a constant tug of war between enjoying life and feeling the years screaming past at an alarming rate. But when I saw Jackass Forever at the weekend, and laughed my ass off at a bunch of guys in their 40s and 50s acting like idiots, I suddenly felt cool about getting older.
I felt this all the way through the movie, but there's one scene where it really hit me. Chris Pontius flattens his dick between two sheets of transparent plastic and uses it to play paddle ball. Why? Because it's Jackass, that's why. He turns to the camera as a laughing Johnny Knoxville uses his dong to bounce the ball on the string, and says something along the lines of: "People wondered what it would be like doing Jackass when we were older. Nothing has changed."
This is an odd thing to say about a skit where a guy uses his penis to play paddle ball, but I was inspired. Not by the stunt itself, which made me feel a little queasy, but the fact that a 47-year-old Chris Pontius is the same brilliant, charming idiot I've always loved. He might look older (well, a little—I dunno what his secret is), but he's still a total goofball. Same with the rest of the Jackass crew. It made me realise that I don't have to change as I get older. I can still be me.
When you hit your 30s—especially your mid-30s—you feel obliged to grow up. But I've always resisted that, because in my head I'm still in my 20s. I'm a person who wants to extract as much pleasure from life as possible, not settle down and nest. I'm a living for the moment kinda guy, which I feel is frowned upon for someone my age. So seeing Knoxville being fired out of a cannon at 50 years old is almost aspirational. He's a hero to me.
They're 20 years older, but the Jackass crew are still making each other laugh, still having fun, still acting like idiots, and still causing mischief—and seeing all that captured on camera in the film, probably for the last time, was incredibly emotional. When I watched Jackass in my 20s, I laughed at Knoxville and co getting kicked in the nuts. Now, in my 30s, Knoxville getting kicked in the nuts is so powerfully nostalgic that I could cry. What a journey.
Jackass Forever is an incredible film. Not just for the wildly imaginative stunts, the magnificent cinematography, and the infectious camaraderie of these people who clearly love each other, but because it's justified my desire to stay the same person—no matter how many wiry grey hairs sprout from my ancient head. I'm gonna think the same, feel the same, speak the same, dress the same, and still laugh when Dave England takes a shit in an exploding toilet.
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