Johnny Knoxville | ‘Action Point’ | Action Point Film Review

Johnny Knoxville |  ‘Action Point’ | Action Point Film Review

Director:

 

Tim Kirkby

With:

  Johnny Knoxville, Chris Pontius

Release Date:

 

Jun 1, 2018

Rated R  1 hour 24 minutes

What if Johnny Knoxville and a couple of his buddies from the “Jackass” hurt-yourself-for-the-hell-of-it TV series were put in charge of an amusement park? Instead of safety being the owners’ primary concern, guests would be encouraged to tempt fate on notoriously risky waterslides, ziplines, and a high-speed downhill toboggan. That’s the lowbrow high concept behind the gleefully brainless “Action Point,” which was inspired by just such a death trap in Vernon, New Jersey, known as Action Park, where much fun was had (and many bones were broken) before a handful of personal injury lawsuits forced its closure in 1996.

But of course that’s why I laughed like a hyena during the movie: It’s liberating to be told — implicitly — that for 90 minutes you don’t have to worry about real-world consequences. People are nearly engulfed in flames; illegal fireworks are set off; a 13-year-old swills beer; D.C. tries to create a petting zoo by capturing animals in the wild, including a porcupine and a bear. The facts that the scary stunts were done in real time and there’s no CGI adds to the naughty, irresponsible fun. And it’s all okay as long as idiots Don’t Try This at Home, which frankly isn’t my problem. Yes, offscreen, Knoxville was injured more than in any Jackass film. (He told me, “I got four concussions, broke my wrist, busted my knee, got stitches, whiplash, uh, lost two and half teeth … Once I got home from the emergency room after one bad concussion … I blew my nose, and when I did, my left eye popped out of the socket.”) Onscreen, his crew crowds around as he writhes on the ground and applauds when he rises. As in Jackass, the vibe is familial. They’re all in it together.

Judging by a handful of online documentary shorts about the real Action Park, daredevil east coast teens (too young to recognize the concept of their own mortality) loved the fact that the place was so dangerous, giving them bragging rights for having survived its most treacherous rides — including two, the Cannonball Loop and Alpine Slide, that are re-created here in all their death-defying peril. Unfortunately, the movie (directed by TV comedy helmer Tim Kirkby) does little to put audiences in visitors’ shoes, depicting park guests as a bunch of cheapskates lured by the promise of free liquor.

‘Action Point’

Rating: R, for crude sexual content, language, drug use, teen drinking, and brief graphic nudity

Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes

Playing: In general release