Although best known as the de-facto leader of the Jackass crew, Johnny Knoxville has enjoyed a long and varied film career - and here's every Johnny Knoxville movie ranked from worst to best. Knoxville has certainly come a long way from testing self-defense equipment on himself for Jeff Tremaine's pioneering skateboarding magazine Big Brother, with his unique brand of gonzo reality clips paving the way for his future success on MTV's Jackass in 2000. Some 20 years later, Knoxville's career has essentially come full-circle, with his latest offering, Jackass Forever, bookending the movie franchise.
Yet despite his undeniable success in bringing Jackass' self-inflicted pain to the masses, Knoxville also has a more serious side to his acting repertoire. Since moving to California in 1989 and initially failing to find his self-proclaimed "big break" as an actor, Knoxville has gone on to star in numerous noteworthy films. Knoxville's obvious slapstick talents have ensured a string of comedic appearances for the iconic stuntman in riotous movies such as Nature Calls, The Ringer, and Jackass' own spinoff Bad Grandpa.
While Knoxville's comedic chops and penchant for physical humor make him a safe bet for most comedy projects, some of his best movie performances to date have arrived in more serious roles such as Sonny West in Elvis & Nixon and James in Jess Bond's Rosy. In addition, Knoxville has a keen eye for producing a wide spectrum of documentary films released by his own production company Dickhouse Productions, although both these projects and his documentary-style films for the Jackass .5 series and Big Brother will not be considered here. As a result, here's every Johnny Knoxville movie ranked from worst to best, including Jackass Forever.
32. Deuces Wild
Deuces Wild sees Leon Anthony (Stephen Dorff) vow to clean up the criminal "junk on the streets," but no amount of vengeance fuelled action sequences can save Scott Kalvert's film from the ignominy of last place on this ranking. Deuces Wild is a wholly derivative movie that unsuccessfully attempts to tap into The Sopranos' mafioso-style narrative but with none of the seminal HBO drama's finesse. Knoxville's appearance in Deuces Wild is mercifully rather brief given his fledgling acting career in 2002, with the Jackass star playing low-level gangster Vinnie "Fish."
31. Life Without Dick
A limp attempt at a satirical black comedy, Life Without Dick centers on Colleen Gibson (And Just Like That's Sarah Jessica Parker), who accidentally kills her boyfriend, Dick Rasmusson (Johnny Knoxville), after finding out he has been cheating on her and is planning to leave. Through a convoluted series of events, Gibson's fate becomes intertwined with local Irish mobster Daniel Gallagher (Harry Connick Jr.) as she becomes more and more adept as the mob's new hitman. Knoxville's turn as Gibson's sleazy boyfriend plays into his strengths an actor here, but his part in the film is all too brief, with Life Without Dick's straight-to-DVD fate confirming its existence as a pale imitation of the infinitely wittier The Whole Nine Yards that released two years earlier.
30. Father Of Invention
Currently holding a 0% critical consensus on ratings aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Father of Invention sees infomercial guru Robert Axle (Kevin Spacey) lose his home and fortune after one of his inventions maims thousands of customers, forcing him to move in with his daughter and her roommates. This should, in theory, set up a hilarious premise, but Father of Invention falls victim to its own relentless optimism, which makes the whole film present as a poorly executed advert for family virtues. Spacey's Robert Axle carries an otherwise paper-thin narrative for the majority of Father of Invention, while the movie's other stars, Johnny Knoxville and Camilla Belle, suffer from a weak script.
29. Big Trouble
Based on the Dave Barry novel of the same name, David Sonnenfeld's Big Trouble boasts a stellar cast that seemingly gets lost in an overly convoluted plot. The Santa Clause's Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Dennis Farina, Zooey Deschanel, Tom Sizemore, Stanley Tucci, and Johnny Knoxville all star, but Big Trouble creates its own problems through a lack of compelling character motivations that create a void of emotion across its runtime. An ill-advised subplot of smuggling a nuclear bomb also landed poorly with audiences in 2002, with Big Trouble ironically becoming a big box office bomb for Touchstone and Buena Vista Pictures.
28. Half Magic
Heather Graham writes and stars in her own comedy Half Magic which translates as a half-hearted attempt at recreating Sex and the City's cosmopolitan sparkle. Half Magic follows a group of women as they attempt to navigate work, friendship, and sexual relationships while also trying to find empowerment in a male-dominated society, but too often, Heather Graham's film loses sight of its genuinely compelling social message in favor of tired gal-pal comedy tropes.
27. Action Point
Johnny Knoxville and Chris Pontius' brainchild proves that the Jackass franchise truly captured lightning in a bottle - and is not an easy premise to replicate despite its simple formula. Action Point uses Jackass' pain-inducing stunts as a vehicle for its story about a poorly run theme park, but the result is a jarring viewing experience that cannot hold a candle to the pair's Jackass turns, nor the Borat-Esque narrative structure Pontius and Knoxville are attempting to reproduce.
26. Movie 43
On paper, Movie 43 appears the zenith of modern filmmaking, bringing in fourteen different directors to each impart a unique vision and storyline for the movie and backing them up with a veritable who's who of the best actors plying their trade in 2013. Unfortunately for Movie 43, as a movie, it fails spectacularly to marry its disparate direction styles into a cohesive narrative, with the film's plot bordering on the indecipherable. This said, Knoxville's turn as the Leprechaun-killing Pete is still riotous viewing, even if it carries absolutely no bearing on Movie 43's overall direction or foggy, half-baked messages.
25. Mainstream
Gia Coppola's sideswipe at viral fame in the contemporary age offers an inventive if well-trodden perspective on the pitfalls of social media. Mainstream follows struggling young filmmaker Frankie (Maya Hawke), who achieves success after meeting with Link (Andrew Garfield), a strange and bold man living off the grid. Coppola's film is at its best when utilizing Andrew Garfield's (The Amazing Spider-Man) singular talents as a conduit for its overarching message, but Mainstream does fall victim to its own grandeur by not offering up any new opinions on the current state of technology.
24. Nature Calls
Johnny Knoxville's sneering portrayal of Kirk is a redemptive facet of an otherwise tone-deaf movie from director Todd Rohal. Nature Calls sees Knoxville's Kirk and Patton Oswalt's Randy go toe to toe over, leading a new batch of Boy Scouts on an ill-advised camping trip to claim their badge of "manhood." While punctuated by funny moments, Nature Calls never quite settles on a target audience, with its crude humor often skewing far past age-appropriate jokes for its target PG-13 audiences. However, if for no other reason, Nature Calls is worth a single viewing simply to catch the last on-screen performance of the late comedy legend Patrice O'Neal.
23. Daltry Calhoun
Katrina Holden Bronson's Daltry Calhoun packs a lot of heart into its 100-minute runtime, with only a stuttering narrative holding it back from being a far superior movie. Johnny Knoxville stars as the titular protagonist, a seed and sod entrepreneur whose life is turned upside down by the unannounced visit of his estranged teenage daughter. Elizabeth Banks and Juliette Lewis also provide strong performances to back up Knoxville's second leading role, making Daltry Calhoun a serviceable fuzzy comedy even if it is not the most gripping of stories.
22. The Dukes Of Hazzard
Loosely based on the iconic TV series of the same name, The Dukes of Hazzard acts as a shining example of a franchise that neither wanted nor needed a standalone movie revival. Commercially, The Dukes of Hazzard performed well upon release in 2005 with a worldwide gross of $111 million, yet financial success cannot hide the fact that the movie's plot is a succession of car chases with little glue in-between. Knoxville, Seann William Scott, and Jessica Simpson provide ample goofiness as the moonshine-toting Duke siblings, but The Dukes of Hazzard cannot hold a candle to the original 1979 show.
21. Walking Tall
A long time before Dwayne Johnson enjoyed an acting career renaissance with smash hits such as Jungle Cruise and Red Notice, he saw his second acting role arrive courtesy of Kevin Bray's Walking Tall alongside Johnny Knoxville. Knoxville and Johnson make a surprisingly effective crime-fighting duo in Walking Tall, with Johnson's efficiency dispatching criminals acting as a foil for Knoxville's wisecracks and knowledge of the streets. Walking Tall does not break any new ground for the action genre and its over-used tropes, but it is a serviceable beat-em-up entry that foreshadowed the burgeoning careers of its two main stars.
20. A Dirty Shame
In the same year as Walking Tall, Knoxville moved completely to the other end of the genre spectrum and starred in the satirical sex comedy A Dirty Shame. John Waters' last film to date, A Dirty Shame polarized critics in 2004, with its outrageous vulgarity either alienating or ingratiating the movie's audiences in much the same way as the residents of Harford Road are split between sin and sex in the film. Knoxville also clearly revels in his role as "sex-saint" Ray-Ray Perkins, whose final contribution to the movie is one that simply needs to be seen to be believed.
19. Above Suspicion
2021's Above Suspicion sees an ambitious rookie agent assigned to an FBI field office in a run-down Kentucky town who quickly becomes embroiled in a downward spiral of jealousy, betrayal, and violence. Emilia Clarke's performance as Susan Smith is the highlight here, while Knoxville's turn as the seedy Cash also catches the eye in brief moments. Above Suspicion is undoubtedly a gritty tale of small-town corruption, but it also settles for a small-budget feel that shackles it from becoming a truly great thriller.
18. Skiptrace
Skiptrace makes no excuses for being an unabashed copy of the Rush Hour franchise, with Johnny Knoxville essentially replacing Chris Tucker as the comical sidekick. Nevertheless, Skiptrace is a thoroughly entertaining buddy-cop action-comedy that makes the most of Jackie Chan's kung-fu talents playing a typically affable yet dangerous character. Director Renny Harlin also shows a keen eye for cinematography throughout, with many of Skiptrace's diverse filming locations adding genuine color and depth to the overall production.
17. Polar
Jonas Åkerlund's Polar is wholly propped up by its bone-crunching fight scenes, which are the only element of Victor Santos' graphic novel Polar: Came From The Cold that the Netflix movie gets right. The rest of Polar is a pale imitation of its source material, with even the normally reliable Mads Mikkelsen not up to the task of bringing Santos' antihero The Black Kaiser to life. Polar also makes some questionable casting decisions, with Vanessa Hudgens' Camille failing to inspire, but Matt Lucas' Blut earns his revulsion, and Knoxville's Michael Green is a welcome cameo.
16. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot is a Michael Bay movie in all but name, containing big, CG'd visuals, quick one-liners, and the dilution of a beloved toy line. Setting up the rebooted canon of the TMNT cinematic franchise, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles introduces Leonardo (Johnny Knoxville), Donatello (Jeremy Howard), Raphael (Alan Ritchson), and Michelangelo (Noel Fisher) to New York City after being raised by their adopted mutant-rat father Splinter (Tony Shalhoub). While the gratuitous use of special effects and CG-motion robs the film of narrative weight, the scene in which Splinter faces off against the vastly superior fighter Shredder (Tohoru Masamune) is a genuinely gripping fight sequence.
15. Small Apartments
Jonas Åkerlund's other movie on this ranking, Small Apartments, is a much-improved example of the Swedish director's ability to sculpt nuanced characters and settings. This independent comedy centers on Matt Lucas' character Franklin, an eccentric social misfit who harbors a comical obsession for all things Swiss before getting caught up in an outlandish series of mishaps and murders. Small Apartments also packs an impressive list of co-stars, including Dolph Lundgren, Johnny Knoxville, James Caan, Billy Crystal, Juno Temple, Rebel Wilson, Saffron Burrows, and Amanda Plummer who contribute to a highly-entertaining zany 97 minutes of cinema.
14. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
Although not as successful as the Borat-style formula it attempts to emulate, Bad Grandpa delivers exactly the sort of nausea-inducing laughs expected of Jackass' Johnny Knoxville. This time, Knoxville is dressed head to toe in an old man suit as Irving Zissman, an accident-prone senior citizen who gets into all manner of hijinks with his willing accomplice and grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll). Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa could never be accused of attempting to elicit more than the most base-level of humor and laughs, but its allure of seeing the unsuspecting public recoil at Knoxville's pranks is compelling viewing all the same.
13. Men In Black II
While lacking the freshness of its predecessor, Men in Black II is a special-effects-driven romp that brings Will Smith's J and Tommy Lee Jones' K back into the fold to face off against a new alien threat. While Lara Flynn Boyle's Serleena does not carry the sheer dread of Vincent D'Onofrio's giant space cockroach from the first film, MIB-II's sub-plot of giving K back his memories is undeniably touching. Johnny Knoxville is also in fine form as the spineless, two-headed aliens Scrad and Charlie who carry out Serleena's dirty work.
12. Rosy
Underpinned by a jarring premise, Rosy centers on Doug, a lonely man who holds a woman hostage in the hopes of inducing elements of Stockholm Syndrome into their lop-sided relationship. Yet director Jess Bond delivers what could be an awkward tale in a balanced and assured manner, with Rosy flitting between romantic comedy and thriller territory deftly while keeping its audience guessing. Rosy's twist-ending is the film's one bone of contention that continues to divide viewers and critics alike, but the movie is still a journey worth taking that blends multiple genres with ease.
11. We Summon The Darkness
We Summon the Darkness is categorically Knoxville's darkest movie credit to date, with the horror-thriller taking on the bleak themes of satanic cults, possessions, and multiple murder plots. Yet what makes all the gloom palatable is We Summon the Darkness' dazzling visuals and dream-like sequences that ensure the movie remains more of an artistic offering than an out-and-out gore-fest. Knoxville's John Henry Butler is also a salacious, riveting proposition that begs the question as to why the Jackass star has not tried his hand at the horror genre more frequently.
10. The Last Stand
Johnny Knoxville has proven his chops in the straight-man role in movies such as Skiptrace and Walking Tall, but The Last Stand remains a cut above the rest of his buddy-cop offerings to date. What separates The Last Stand from its genre competition is The Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger and Knoxville's chemistry, making their respective characters' crusades to save their small town from a vicious drug lord a pulsating affair. The Last Stand's marketing in 2013 did a disservice to how competent an action offering Kim Jee-won's Western directorial debut actually is, making it a must-see for both Schwarzenegger and Knoxville fans alike.
9. Lords Of Dogtown
While Lords of Dogtown did not get the plaudits it deserved in 2005, its contemporary cult following confirms it as one of the greatest skateboarding movies of all time. In addition to accurately telling the true stories of surfers-turned skateboarding pioneers Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, and Jay Adams, Lords of Dogtown acts as a worthy homage to the sport's roots. This love for its source material is emphasized by a swathe of relevant cameos, with pro-skaters Tony Hawk and Lance Mountain just two of the big names to lend their talents to the movie.
8. Elvis & Nixon
Based on an iconic photograph taken of Elvis Presley and former president Richard Nixon, Liza Johnson's semi-biographical take on the two men's relationship is a wholly engrossing one. Johnson, of course, takes many creative liberties, with the two men's war on drugs and a changing culture given an immediacy likely not mirrored by the pair's real conversations. While both Kevin Spacey's Nixon and Michael Shannon's Elvis occasionally act as sad reminders of the misogyny of past eras, Elvis & Nixon is an otherwise pitch-perfect reimagining of two historical figures' cathartic-yet-uneasy friendship.
7. The Ringer
The Farrelly Brothers' movie about a man who fakes a disability to compete in the Special Olympics had the potential to be an ill-conceived, insensitive piece of cinema. Yet what makes The Ringer such a sweet, humorous piece of cinema is the sensitivity and affection it treats its disabled participants with as Knoxville's Steve Barker learns valuable lessons during the competition. The Ringer also features more than 150 people with intellectual disabilities in small parts and supporting roles to ensure an accurate representation of the movie's main competition, meaning The Ringer remains one of the Farrelly Brothers' most beloved comedies to date.
6. Jackass 3D
While the lowest-ranked Jackass movie of the franchise's four offerings to date, Jackass 3D captures a distinctive moment in time. Released in 2010, Jackass 3D makes the most of the (rather short-lived) obsession with the third dimension in cinema, showcasing the Jackass crew's stunts in a nauseating up-close-and-personal new light. Jackass 3D's release also marked the 10th anniversary of the Jackass franchise, with Jackass' violent brand of slapstick humor celebrating the film series' longest and most stunt-filled offering to date.
5. Coyote Ugly
Although an unashamedly revisionist take, Coyote Ugly has found its niche and cult following some 22 years after David McNally's film was first released. Universally panned in 2000 when it first hit cinemas, Coyote Ugly has since become symbolic of the genuine optimism the Millenium year elicited, as well as perfectly preserving the iconic fashion and sensibilities of a pivotal moment in modern history. Its narrative may be incredibly linear, but Coyote Ugly evokes a sense of time and place in a way few modern coming-of-age movies are able to achieve. Coyote Ugly also represents Johnny Knoxville's first acting credit in a movie, with the Jackass star playing the aptly named "College Guy" who frequents the NYC bar.
4. Jackass Number Two
Jackass Number Two stands an emphatic testament to the power of the sequel and proved many critics wrong upon being released in 2006. Jackass Number Two, if anything, manages to one-up the shock factor of the first Jackass movie while still capturing the slapstick, immature, and gleeful fun that made the original MTV series such a hit in 2000. The second Jackass movie also introduced the infamous "Toro Totter", one of the Jackass crew's most-watched stunts on YouTube, in which Johnny Knoxville, Chris Pontius, Bam Margera, and Ryan Dunn sit on seesaws in the center of a rodeo ring while a bull attempts to gore them.
3. Grand Theft Parsons
Johnny Knoxville's best non-Jackass offering by a mile is the touching comedy-drama Grand Theft Parsons. Based on the true story and death of country-rock musician Gram Parsons, Grand Theft Parsons sees the musician's manager Phil Kaufman (Johnny Knoxville) fulfill the pair's pact to cremate his friend at the Joshua Tree National Monument. The result is a black comedy of the highest order, with Kaufman stealing a psychedelic hearse and driving across the country while being pursued by Parsons' indignant family members. The Jackass Forever star Knoxville is simply stunning as the grieving yet determined manager who must exorcise his demons by completing Parsons' bizarre last wish.
2. Jackass: The Movie
The film that re-started it all, Jackass: The Movie emphatically shattered the more responsible tone the third season of the Jackass MTV series had attempted to take. After being censored due to a series of public health concerns in 2001, the Jackass crew utilized their move into cinema as an opportunity to bring new levels of violence and belly-laughs to their audiences. Jackass: The Movie still stands as the pinnacle of modern idiocy in cinema that paved the way for projects such as Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat movies to become more palatable in mainstream culture, but this statement cannot detract from how riotously fun the first Jackass movie still is to this day.
1. Jackass Forever
The best Johnny Knoxville movie, and indeed the best Jackass offering, is likely to be the franchise's final hurrah. Released 12 years after Jackass 3D, Jackass Forever is a poignant love lecture to the nausea-inducing franchise that made Knoxville and his cohort genuine stars in 2002, with many of the original Jackass performers stating that Jackass Forever will be their last film. As a result, Jackass Forever is imbued with a sentimentality that the other Jackass movies could never have cultivated, making the entire film feel like a curtain call as Knoxville, in particular, recreates the stunts that made him a household name. There is also the added consideration that due to the Jackass cast's respective ages, Jackass Forever seems to hit harder than any of its predecessors, with none of the Jackass cast and crew willing to compromise on danger or spectacle. Johnny Knoxville's acting credits span over two decades, but Jackass Forever is his best movie that will take some beating as the Jackass franchise's worthy coda.