Action Point

Action Point

For a film about wild freedom and alternative lifestyles, “Action Point” is too safe. There was a time when making a movie about an independent amusement park with rides on which ticket buyers could actually get really hurt from the creators of “Jackass,” no less, between the first one and “Jackass 2” would have been an obvious slam-dunk. It would have been dangerous and intense. Steve-O would have ended up in the hospital. Believe it or not, “Action Point” in 2018 feels too safe. There’s way too much plot and even the stunts that gave Knoxville concussions feel routine. It’s not unlike seeing a once-great athlete attempt a comeback. There are flashes of what once worked, but it’s also a little sad.

With all its flaws, the plot of “Action Point” is so old-fashioned and affable in a “Revenge of the Nerds” manner that it’s difficult to truly hate this movie. It’s just forgettable, especially when we’re asked to care about it so much. The structure of “Action Point” allows Knoxville to get into his old man make-up that he used so well in “Bad Grandpa,” telling his granddaughter (Eleanor Worthington Cox) a story while babysitting one day long ago at Action Point which isn’t exactly based on Action Park, but is named after it.

The year is about four decades ago; the place is New Jersey; grandpa (Knoxville, made-up like Captain Kangaroo) owns/operates/runs into things at Action Point; there are teenagers who work there; they interact with each other and get injured (mostly off-screen); Boogie falls for Chris Pontius’ lifeguard character (always popping pills or swinging hatchets or both), etc., etc., barely amounting to characters let alone memorable personalities you know how this goes. But you don’t, and neither does the movie.

The only actual characters here are Carver (Knoxville), who never met a speeding vehicle or low-hanging beam he didn’t want to crash into, and Boogie, his daughter with the adorable lisp whom he keeps trying to scare straight with stories about how dangerous amusement parks can be. (“People die at these places every day!”) There’s also the real estate villain who wants to buy up Action Point and turn it into something safe (played by Dan Bakkedahl, who is funny).

The reason you are probably going there is the stunts, which lack the energy of the MTV show or any of the movies based on it, even the one here that gave Knoxville a concussion so bad that his eye popped out the next time he sneezed. The problem lies in a structure that forces plot to somehow explain stupidity. They need something for younger guests at Action Point to do so they decide to round up wild animals and create a petting zoo.

But something like watching Knoxville try to catch a porcupine with his hands or Pontius put acorns in his shorts to bait a squirrel sounds more like an obvious bit for “Jackass 4” than anything else because as presented these moments don’t really have danger or even humor. There’s just something about all of “Action Point” including its stunts and plot that feels off, and it mostly comes down to flat direction and the realization that we’re going to get back around to a plot I don’t care about very much. If you think about it, there’s maybe a better version of “Action Point” that is purely from Boogie’s point of view; a young woman learning the value of risk and recklessness of youth would at least have less Pontius in it.

The story goes that they had to build everything for “Action Point” itself in South Africa; also that Knoxville did all his own stunts, naturally. Designing some truly life-threatening rides along with conceiving these stunts might be more interesting than watching this movie.

Watch Action Point For Free On Gomovies.