Every Jackass Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Five years before the advent of YouTube, the MTV series "Jackass" was the place to watch people doing crazy stunts. Created by Jeff Tremaine, Johnny Knoxville, and Spike Jonze, the show is built on a basic premise: a group of friends does various outrageous and dangerous stunts. These activities range from stupid pranks to downright brutal physical punishment. Audiences tuned in to see what insane stuff the crew would do next. Though the show only lasted a mere three seasons, its lasting impact on popular culture, for better or worse, cannot be denied.  

After the series, a few of the "Jackass" crew members branched off into other projects. For instance, Knoxville used the show as a springboard for an acting career, and some of his credits include "Men in Black II," "Lords of Dogtown," and more recently, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend" (via IMDb). Wanting to bank off the popularity of the show, MTV decided to do a film, which was supposed to be a fitting farewell to the "Jackass" saga. Thankfully for fans of the show, this was not the case, and a new feature-length film, "Jackass Forever," was just released in February 2022. 

With that in mind, it seems fitting to rank the previous films from worst to best.

Long before Johnny Knoxville and his motley crew were doing death-defying feats, there was a man that blazed a trail. Robert Craig Knievel, better known as Evel Knievel, was legendary for his breathtaking and jaw-dropping stunts. He mainly performed these by doing harrowing jumps on bikes and cars. Coming after 2006's "Jackass: Number Two," Paramount released the direct-to-DVD "Jackass Presents: Mat Hoffman's Tribute to Evel Knievel." Clearly, Knoxville has a lot of love and respect for Knievel. 

In the film, Knoxville serves as host, while BMX bike legend Mat Hoffman and crew members Allan Cooke, Travis Pastrana, Trigger Gumm, Spanky Spangler, and more perform various Knievel-inspired bike jumps. "Mat Hoffman's Tribute to Evel Knievel" is a fairly breezy watch, clocking in at just under 50 minutes, and it has some pretty impressive stunt work. While there is one skydiving sequence, the rest of the stunts are just various bike jumps. Therefore, things feel like they get stale quickly, and unless you are really into BMX tricks, "Mat Hoffman's Tribute to Evel Knievel" offers little else.

As these two titles are essentially the same thing, showing behind-the-scenes interviews and extended stunts from the previous film, we decided it was fitting to group them together. Released on home video on December 26, 2007, "Jackass 2.5" is a compilation of deleted scenes from "Jackass: Number Two." It also includes newly filmed interviews with the "Jackass" crew, including Steve-O, Johnny Knoxville, and Dave England. Despite being a glorified reel of unused material, "Jackass 2.5" was a hit upon its release, making near $4 million in video sales, which is quite big considering it skipped a theatrical release (via The Numbers). "Jackass 3.5" got a similar Blu-ray and DVD release around Christmas of 2011 (via MTV).

While "Jackass 2.5" is only a little over an hour long, the movie manages to showcase some side-splitting moments. These include the Crab Clamp, in which Knoxville inflicts some pain to various unsuspecting "Jackass" crew members with a fake crab with a clamp; the Snapping Turtle Bite, which features Chris Pontius getting bitten by — you guessed it — a snapping turtle; El Matador, in which Wee Man tangles with a baby bull; and the scene where Bam Margera, Brandon DiCamillo and the late Ryan Dunn freak out April Margera with a fake bazooka. The interviews included in between segments are also a really nice addition to "Jackass 2.5."

Comparatively, "Jackass 3.5" is an unrated film featuring all the extra footage from "Jackass 3D," which there seems to be a lot of, as the runtime is almost an hour and a half. While the movie includes a bunch of hilarious clips, there's definitely a reason they weren't chosen over other moments to appear in "Jackass 3D," which is why it takes this spot on the list alongside "Jackass 2.5."

After the first film proved to be a success at the box office, it wasn't a big surprise when "Jackass" was turned into a film franchise. Once again directed by Jeff Tremaine, "Jackass: Number Two" is arguably one of the best of the film series. Not only does the chemistry between its core cast still feel fresh and energized, but this time around, Knoxville and friends had a bigger budget to work with (via Box Office Mojo). In a 2018 interview with Vanity Fair, Knoxville remarked on the film, saying that "everyone was on their worst behavior."

Though the production values are put to good use, we still get straightforward, uncomplicated "Jackass" madness. This includes some hilarious hijinks, including bees getting released in a limo, Knoxville and his crew grappling with a live anaconda in a ball pit, and Knoxville being strapped onto an actual rocket and hurled into the air. Though "Jackass 3D" has some great moments, what edges "Number Two" ahead has to be the impressive stars that make an appearance. Aside from the aforementioned Mike Judge, Luke Wilson and Rip Taylor also appear in the film. But it's an appearance by cult film director John Waters that makes this legendary. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter from January of 2022, Steve-O remarked, "Number Two was the masterpiece in my view."