Movie Review: Action Point

Action Point

Director : Tim Kirkby

Starring: Johnny Knoxville , Chris Pontius, Eleanor Worthington Cox, Dan Bakkedahl, Johnny Pemberton

Rating: R

Runtime: 85 minutes

I have to start this review with this : I really enjoyed this movie.

I had to do that because Johnny Knoxville’s new comedy-stunt spectacular Action Point is getting a huge amount of hate from critics and audiences alike. It’s a small scale, dumb comedy and it made me laugh pretty constantly… Isn’t that all it has to do? I was afraid it’d resemble a Jackass versus an actual comedy movie, but apparently a lot of people wanted just that and the movie is paying the price for that. Which is ironic, because the movie itself is about nostalgia, which is the exact thing that is ruining this movie… But we’ll get to that.

Action Point is a story told from the point of view of a grandfather telling his grandaughter a story of a crucial point in the relation ship between he and his daughter Boogie (her mother). Of course, Knoxville dons his favorite old man makeup for these scenes in the movie, he seems to love wearing that get-up and it shows. That old man prosthesis seems to actually get something out of him that makes for a fun performance. The bulk of the movie is based around the fact that Knoxville’s character D.C. owns a struggling, near lawless water park in a small town in California, which he runs alongside his brother Benny (played by fellow Jackass star Chris Pontius) and a rag-tag bunch of misfits D.C. lovingly calls “The Shitbirds”. When his daughter visits him, he struggles with the fact that she’s growing older without him, while having to save his park from the plot of a shrewd land-developer (played by the always hysterical Dan Bakkedahl). Now, while this plot (“We have to save the ____ that means so much to all of us from the mean businessman!”) has been done time and time again, it very much works in this movie which is all about nostalgia; the good ol’ days when kids could be kids. So in order to make the money necessary to stay open, D.C. leans into the dangerous nature of his park to entice thrill seekers into attending the park by opening extremely insane attractions. It’s a simple story, but it’s a great foundation for dumb fun.

There are plenty of laughs in this film, and of course a lot of them are derived by hard pratfalls, a squirrel rifling around in Pontius’s crotch, and Knoxville throwing himself around like a ragdoll. But, there are some amazing visual choices made by director Tim Kirkby that shouldn’t be overlooked. The absolute chaos that make up some of the scenes is incredibly impressive. Most scenes that take place in the actual park are rife with wild hordes of children screaming,running around and generally going absolutely nuts, and it feels so real. Also, the cinematic shots and scene transitions featuring Action Point’s resident troublemaker “Killer” (played by Matt Schulze, known for playing Vince in The Fast and the Furious franchise) are as gorgeous and menacing as they are hysterical. Killer more blends into the background of the film, and wanders the park like a force of nature, constantly picking fights, or terrorizing people with snakes, and it’s such a fun recurring gag.

“Badly acted” is a term that is being thrown around in describing this movie, and I think that’s 100% wrong. Knoxville and company did a great job, and it should be noted. Knoxville has a sleazy charm about him thatb really shines through in this, especially because he’s not that of a horrible person in this, and wants to be better for his daughter’s sake, and IT FEELS BELIEVABLE, DAMNIT! Also, he was able to make throwaway lines funny, because an enthusiasm for being able to make silly dumb jokes like that oozed out of him. Someone who impressed me in a big way was Chris Pointus. He’s not an actor, but he should be in more comedy movies. Pontius is just naturally hilarious and he seemed right at home playing the hapless, loveable, hatchet wielding pill-popping Benny, who had me cracking up everytime he was on screen. Every. Single. Time. It could be him telling an odd story about his childhood, or just playing with a samurai sword with a twinkle in his eye. Pontius stole the movie.

Also, it needs to be mentioned that Action Point is based on an actual infamous waterpark Action Park (which the locals nicknamed “Traction Park”) that existed in New Jersey from 1978 to 1996. A handful of the more dangerous attractions in the movie are based on ones from the actual park, like the loop-de-loop water slide and the cement sled slide to name a couple. I’d recommend looking it up, it’s one of those things you won’t be able to believe existed.

So all in all, I’d say Action Point is a solid comedy. It’s nothing special story-wise, but it had me at a consistent chuckle throughout the entire thing, with my chuckle growing to an all-out belly laugh at points, and isn’t that the goal? I think so, but it may be too gross and dumb for the average moviegoer, and not gross and dumb enough for the Jackass fan. And that’s a damn shame.