The Jackass franchise has been around for over a quarter of a century, which is unimaginable when you think of all the punishment that Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius and the rest of their gang have inflicted on themselves. Either way, one final round is hitting the 2026 movie calendar in Jackass: Best and Last, bringing more nudity and stunts to the big screen. It sounds like there’s something more, though, because reviews are out and critics are describing the fifth and final movie in a way I’d never have expected.“Poignant” is not a term I’d associate with the Jackass franchise, but with its stars now in their 50s, there’s a higher price to pay for some of the stunts they’ve pulled, and Jackass: Best and Last seems to know it, according to the critics. Johnny Knoxville, for instance, can’t get hit in the head anymore after the “catastrophic” bull injury we witnessed in the last movie. David Ehrlich of IndieWire gives the swan song a B, writing that this greatest hits album sprinkled with new stunts “cements the franchise as a vital piece of American history.” He says:All the Jackass movies are documentaries in a sense, but this is the only entry structured like one, complete with Knoxville and his accomplices being interviewed on camera as they genuflect before the origins of the franchise and tee up rare — sometimes previously unseen — footage of their greatest hits. What the boys fail, or don’t even try, to provide in insight or commentary, they make up for by shaking their heads and laughing at each other; there’s something extremely poignant and inspiring about a bunch of middle-aged men who can look back at the dumbest moments of their lives without the slightest hint of regret.Todd Gilchrist of The Wrap poetically writes that, “Of all of the things to be tugged at in Jackass: Best and Last, the one that fans may least expect is their heartstrings." The movie combines new stunts with classic favorites, and even Johnny Knoxville gets choked up at the emotion of ending this chapter. Gilchrist’s review of Jackass: Best and Last reads:Leave it to these mischief makers to deliver a final chapter that serves as a requiem, a victory lap and an envelope-pusher all at once. By any measure, Jackass: Best and Last delivers the most joyful and beautifully bittersweet entertainment of the summer, reminding longtime fans and lucky newcomers of the sublime pleasures of horseplay. … Knoxville, Tremaine and their accomplices amply demonstrate with this latest batch of brutality how tough aging can be when your job is risking your life. What elevates this film after four others, 26 years and enough injuries to occupy a fleet of ambulances, is the way they’re able to put an unexpectedly poignant spotlight on the key to their — and the series’ — enduring appeal: by never getting any wiser.Guy Lodge of Variety says while this final outing is “oddly poignant,” it would be a mistake to expect anything too sentimental from this group. Jackass 5 relives lots of the franchise’s best moments of humiliation and pain, with new bits that the critic says can almost stand side-by-side with the classics. In Lodge’s words:There’s poignancy here in seeing the guys’ middle-aged bodies marked by the wear and tear of their peculiar chosen profession, alongside various fading joke tattoos that seemed funnier a quarter-century ago, as they take yet another voluntary beating. Admittedly, ‘poignancy’ is not a word you’d have ever applied to this franchise in its earlier days. Either they’ve grown, or we have.Hannah Strong of Little White Lies writes that she enjoyed the new footage of Johnny Knoxville’s bull stunt and other behind-the-scenes footage, because it gives insight into how far the gang was willing to go for the show. The interviews, as well, highlight how important the friendships are to ensure Jackass remains funnier than mean. More of that would have been welcome, but Strong has no real complaints about this final outing:One of the most impressive stunts culminates in the gang gazing down in shock at the decimated remains of dummies made to look like them in a darkly comedic meta moment, as if reminding us that it’s a miracle these films didn’t kill all of them. Yet the most poignant moment comes in the final credits — a compilation of footage which hammers home how much time has passed... What was once written off as sanctioned buffoonery and derided for its emphasis on bodily fluids has come to symbolise the importance of lasting friendships and empathy in an increasingly fraught world. It might not be the most raucous or ridiculous send off, but Best and Last feels like the finale that Jackass deserves.The use of archival footage allows Bam Margera to be included in Jackass: Best and Last, as well as Ryan Dunn, who died in a car crash in 2011. I certainly didn’t expect the end of Jackass to be described as emotional — or “poignant” — especially after seeing in the previews what new stunts await.Jackass: Best and Last hits theaters Friday, June 26, and if you want to pre-game this final ride, you can stream the first four movies and Jackass spinoffs (except for Viva La Bam) with a Paramount+ subscription.