Johnny Knoxville Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives and accolades. This week, I'm profiling the work of Johnny Knoxville, whose latest project "Jackass Forever" releases in theaters on February 4th.

Johnny Knoxville's Filmography Ranked:

16.The Dukes of Hazzard (D-)

15.Movie 43 (D)

14.Big Trouble (C-)

13.Lords of Dogtown (C)

12.Men in Black II (C+)

11.Action Point (C+)

10.We Summon the Darkness (B-)

9.Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles (B)

8.The Ringer (B)

7.Walking Tall (B)

6.Polar (B)

5.Bad Grandpa (A-)

4.The Last Stand (A-)

3.Jackass: The Movie (A)

2.Jackass 3D (A)

1.Jackass Number Two (A)  

Top Dog: Jackass: Number Two (2006)

Every single Jackass movie has provided me with some of the biggest laughs I've ever had while watching a movie, Number Two just happens to contain the highest amount of those uproarious moments. Seeing bits like Puppet Show, Firehose Rodeo, The Strongman, The Brand, Medicine Ball Dodgeball, The Electric Stool, Mushroom Launch, Miniature Bathroom, Anaconda Ball Pit and The Toro Totter for the first time with an energized opening weekend crowd remains one of the more memorable experiences I've ever had at a theater.    

Lowlight: The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)

Nearly every old TV show that's been adapted into a comedy movie outside of the Jump Street franchise has been dumped on relentlessly. For the most part, I think that criticism is overly harsh and have found projects like Baywatch, Starsky and Hutch and CHips to be reasonably funny pieces of self-aware silliness. One of the only (and probably the biggest) exceptions to this belief is The Dukes of Hazzard. What Jay Chandrasekhar and this largely mismatched, poorly cast ensemble (Knoxville, Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson, Willie Nelson-the latter two providing two of the worst performances from musicians turned actors ever) cooked up is among the laziest and stunningly poor attempts at making a comedy that I've ever seen. There's no more than 2-3 slight chuckles present in the entire film and Burt Reynolds'-who is the only person here that performs even somewhat admirably-Boss Hogg is solely responsible for them. On top of that, the car chases/stunts that the TV series was largely known for are staged in such a clunky, stagnant fashion that they're robbed of any potential excitement. Now that these types of adaptations appear to be pretty much DOA, may The Dukes of Hazzard continue to fade deeper and deeper into cinematic obscurity.      

Most Underrated: The Last Stand (2013)

I keep waiting for the moment that The Last Stand finally finds its audience like some other commercially unsuccessful B-action gems like Dredd, Upgrade and Hardcore Henry have in recent years, but it just hasn't happened yet. Even if it never does, the delightfully over-the-top thrills of Arnold Schwarzenegger's initial major acting comeback vehicle after his stint as the Governor of California will maintain a special place in my heart forever.    

Most Overrated: Lords of Dogtown (2005)

This is a bit of a stretch since Lords of Dogtown is hardly a widely beloved film, but Knoxville's non-Jackass catalog isn't exactly overflowing with titles that meet the criteria here, so a mini-cult classic will have to do. The issue with Lords of Dogtown is that it has so many opportunities to venture off into interesting directions and yet it almost always settles for the safest possible narrative choice, which turns what should be a fascinating, vibrant film about the fascinating origins of professional skateboarding into a depressingly standard biopic.