Action Point – An Irrelevant Comedy

Jackass-type humor isn’t funny anymore and it should just go away for good.

Synopsis: D.C. is the crackpot owner of Action Point — a low-rent, out-of-control amusement park where the rides are designed with minimum safety for maximum fun. Just as his estranged daughter Boogie comes to visit, a corporate mega-park opens nearby and jeopardizes the future of Action Point. To save his beloved park and his relationship with Boogie, D.C. and his loony crew of misfits must risk everything to pull out all the stops and save the day. (Rovi)

Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Eleanor Worthington-Cox, and Chris Pontius

Writers: John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky

Director: Tim Kirkby

Rating: 14A (Canada)/R (United States)

Running Time: 85mins

Trailer: 

Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass style of comedy were big in the last decade and this film hopes to do the same in 2018 but the problem with that is that this new film, Action Point, is simply not funny. Because of this, the entire film falls apart as a result. Instead of having any semblance of plot, most of the film consisted of simply knocking you over the head with gratuitous slapstick. As is the case with most films like this, those who have seen the trailers have already seen the film for the most part. The story here was about an amusement park owner named D.C. (Knoxville), along with his group of crazy park workers (who were only there for comedic effect and nothing more), who goes to drastic lengths to save his park from outside competition and irrelevance.

What was a straightforward plot had to be muddled for whatever reason, trying to redeem the sheer stupidity by shoehorning a underdeveloped subplot about D.C.’s relationship with his daughter Boogie (Worthington-Cox and Susan Yeagley as the younger and older Boogie respectively). In addition to this, the story was told from the perspective of an elderly D.C., seemingly serving as an excuse to make Knoxville into an old man once again. The problem with this was that the tone was all over the place and it was difficult to care enough about any of the characters to get emotionally invested although this was never going to be the reason most will watch this in the first place. 

Again, nothing about this film was funny. From people getting hurt, to outrageous and negligent park employees, to people getting hurt, the humor got tiresome very quickly. If there was one positive, it would be its short running time, clocking it at under 90 minutes, because its premise can’t sustain anything longer. It may be done before you know it but you’ll want it done ever sooner as you’ll surely be asking yourself what is the point of all of this? The acting was okay all around but no one is watching this for the acting. Knoxville was once again committed to put himself through the ringer for our entertainment though it’s nothing he hasn’t done before in countless other films.

Overall, this is a divisive film that fans of the Johnny Knoxville and Jackass will find plenty to enjoy despite the needlessly muddled plot while the rest will find this incredibly stupid and unfunny and wonder what was the point? These types of comedies are becoming a way of the past so hopefully after this film, they will stay there.

Score: 3/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.