User Reviews

There is a certain stipulation that comes with any Jackass movie. You're not sitting down for an Oscar caliber movie. You're not expecting great film. Rather, you're coming to see a bunch of dumb guys getting hit in the nuts, falling into cacti, and wrestling with dangerous animals. The real life stunts, and the sh*t these guys put themselves through for a laugh, is why you go, and it is endlessly entertaining. With Action Point, star Johnny Knoxville is going in a different direction. Instead of the film just being a bunch of sketches and stunts edited together, there is an actual story going along with it. It's a real movie, with a narrative and characters and everything, but all the stunts are done for real in true Jackass form. The blend is an interesting idea, and it's one that made me actually kind of excited for this movie. Bad Grandpa had some narrative to it, and it actually worked out pretty well. But I was interested in seeing how it would work when they went completely in on it. And it works out quite well, actually. Action Point isn't a great movie, but it's entertaining as hell. I had an excellent time in the theater, cracking up laughing with all my friends, enjoying this movie. Is it stupid? Yes, absolutely. But if you like the style of humor that the Jackass movies present, then you're going to enjoy Action Point. The movie centers around D.C. (Knoxville) who, in his elder years, recounts to his granddaughter his glory days of operating a sketchy amusement park called Action Point.

When I saw that there was a movie called "Action Point" that was loosely based on Action Park I felt obligated to see it. For those not from New Jersey, Action Park was a Vernon, NJ theme park notorious for unsafe rides and intoxicated customers and staff. "Action Point" was mediocre and predictable. But some movies are about the journey, not the destination. If you want to see it go to the theater ASAP because it is not doing well at the box office. It will probably be available on DVD by the end of next week.

They drank a lot of Schlitz beer in the movie. It was obviously a product placement. I don't recall Schlitz being that popular in New Jersey in the '80s. But that was before I drank ... legally. I can't remember the last time I saw Schlitz in a liquor store, but have not purchased beer in a long time. I do remember the Schlitz Rocks America advertising campaign. They sponsored The Who's first farewell tour.

I went to Action Park at least a few times as a child. I wish I would have gone as an adult. I did not realize how historically significant it was. I think I felt fortunate to escape unscathed and didn't want to push my luck. The first time I rode the Alpine Slide I saw a guy who flew off the slide and was lying face down on the grass. The sufficiently scared me to be very careful. There really were many casualties at Action Park. I think most of the fatalities occurred on the water based attractions.

There are some great Action Park stories. And many of them are true. I heard they purchased new ambulances for the town of Vernon. A lot of people blamed the rowdiness of patrons on the fact that many were New Yorkers. One of my favorite stories was when "MTV's Headbanger's Ball" taped an episode there featuring the band Alice In Chains. The band members did not have to wait to go on the rides. And somebody screamed at guitar player Jerry Cantrell, "Hey burnout! Get back in line!"

Maybe I should go into more detail about the movie. It is an R rated comedy. Maybe that is why it struggled at the box office. A lot of the jokes were people falling and/or getting hurt. That isn't very funny ... well ... sometimes it's funny. I like the tee shirts that say "it's funny until someone gets hurt. Then it's hilarious". There should have been a disclaimer at the end of the movie that said "no humans were harmed in the making of this film". Does anyone care about humans getting hurt?

Most of the movie was Johnny Knoxville's character, D.C., telling stories about his crazy theme park to his young granddaughter. He referred to his motley crew of employees as "shitbirds". Maybe those characters could have been more developed.

Maybe the movie could have been based more closely on the real Action Park. The movie took place in California and was filmed in South Africa. I have no idea why. Vernon, NJ was rural. Some people do not even know that there are rural parts of New Jersey. I am from the Exit 153 area so that makes me a city boy. When I was a little kid my mother's best friend and her family moved up to Sussex County. We went up to visit many times. I had so much fun up there I can barely remember most of it. They moved to the country to get away from it all. And their kids found it all.

Action Park was 50 miles west of Manhattan and considered the New York area. They showed commercials on New York TV stations and attracted many patrons from there. A lot of people blamed many of the problems on the New Yorkers. Many of the drowning casualties were New Yorkers who couldn't swim and/or drank too much. Some of the New Yorkers did not speak English and few if any employees were bilingual. New York is definitely part of the Action Park story.

The corporate rival theme park was 7 Parks. I assume that was supposed to be like Six Flags. The nearest Six Flags to Action Park was 90 miles away in Jackson, NJ. There were definitely competition, but not that close.

Action Park did provide entertainment and it heard it was usually piss poor. That could have been a very funny part of the movie.

The movie reminded me of some of the comedies I watched growing up that pitted slobs versus snobs like "Animal House", "Caddyshack", etc..

I am trying to remember what beers were popular in New Jersey back in the '80s. I didn't drink. ;) I think my friends liked Old Milwaukee and Busch. Michelob was considered the good stuff.

Went into this movie with VERY low expectations, but I actually enjoyed it. Not very good, but it was still a very fun, lighthearted, and funny movie.

'ACTION POINT': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A 'JACKASS' comedy film starring Johnny Knoxville and Chris Pontius. The movie features the usual stunts and pranks, all connected by a story based on the notorious New Jersey theme park 'Action Park'. It was directed by Tim Kirkby, and it was written by Knoxville, John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky, Derek Freda and Mike Judge. The film is a bomb at the Box Office, and it's gotten mostly negative reviews from critics too. I found it to be mostly a bore as well.

Through flashbacks told to his grandson, D.C. (Knoxville) explains how he once owned a successful New Jersey them park, called Action Park. The park was famous for having dangerous rides, ran by inexperienced delinquent teenagers. D.C. and his crew did everything they could to keep the park running, even when it faced stiff competition from a giant evil corporation theme park. In the process D.C. also bonded with his estranged teenage daughter Boogie (Eleanor Worthington-Cox).

I like Knoxville, Pontius and the other 'JACKASS' movies, but this film just isn't funny. I do appreciate it's attempt to recreate the 80's style youth theme park movies of yesteryear though, and in that way it is nostalgic. That's the only thing the film really has going for it though. Other than that it's just a bore, sadly. The other person in the theater I saw it at even walked out half way before the movie was over!

I feel like Johnny Knoxville has lost a step. I don't know how true that is, because thinking about how much I loved Bad Grandpa contradicts that, but he looks old in this (not just because he is old but I'm sure years of stunt work will do that for you), he looks worn out old.

In what looks like a homage to Action Park, Knoxville plays a park owner literally keeping the rides together using duck tape when a rival park plans to put him out of the biz, so he ups his game by turning down the safety measurements, which allows Knoxville to do what he does best.

I think this movie could have used the support of the entire Jackass crew and not just Chris Pontus, although Pontus totally proves if you are going to do this with only one member, he's got to be that member. Absolutely Hilarious

Realistically, if you are a fan of Knoxville and Jackass you'll love this picture, but I do feel they could have used more slap stick stunts and less story.

Well, the bar is set pretty low considering the cast that stars in this movie. With a bunch of the people from "Jackass", then I kind of already knew what I was getting into here prior to sitting down to watch "Action Point".

And true enough, this was essentially just an episode of "Jackass" upon which they had slapped the illusion of it being an actual movie. Sure, they had something that resembled a storyline, but let's be honest, this is all about the stunts, pranks and absurdity of what people are willing to put themselves (and others) through in order for creating entertainment.

Entertainment... well, I use that word lightly here. Why? Well, because this was not the most interesting or entertaining of movies around. And I doubt that this will be a movie that causes much of a ruckus or any kind of stir. In fact, I believe it will vanish into oblivion in the same manner of under the radar as its existence came to be.

If you are a fan of the "Jackass" crew and their stunts, then you will find some amusement in "Action Point" for sure. But if you sit down to watch this movie with the intention of being entertained by watching a proper movie, you will be sorely disappointing.

Sure, some of the outrageous stunts were fun to watch, but hardly capable of sustaining a movie. I managed to sit through "Action Point" to the very end, although I can't claim to be properly entertained. And I know for a fact that this movie is not one that I will ever return to watch a second time around.

I've never been a fan of Jackass-hitting people in the nuts and stunts like that I don't really see the humor in. But I love theme parks, and wipeouts on rides sounded appealing to me. The story doesn't matter, but there is some fun and a few laughs here at the chaotic Action Point. I would have totally gone there in the 80's!

Johnny Knoxville is kinda getting old for this ,,, i mean i like that the movies are much more evolved than what it was back in the day "Jackass" but still i think it is not good enough .

There were some stunts that looked real ,, which is Meh,, don't really care if i come to it .. but it is a movie after all,, so talking about the plot it looked mediocre.

Don't wanna say it's recommended , but it is not not recommended either ..

I am very much a fan of Jackass and Johnny Knoxville. I think he has a good comedic brain and when on form can be funny naturally. So when I saw a trailer for this and the idea of a backwards theme park I thought it would be a good laugh.

Sadly the film didn't add much from the trailer and the story lacked structure, severely at times. There are some funny moments. But it is mostly slapstick. With political correctness so agonisingly crammed into everything these days I did wonder that the sensors may have killed the dialogue. I would say the chances of cutting crude jokes is pretty high, based on the neurosis of the current establishment.

Either way, the verbal comedy was pretty weak. There are some funny stunts and most of them are real and painful looking. This never fails to make me laugh. But the story is where it went south. The ending where the bad guy gets his comeupance is very formulaic and boring.

Interestingly one of the (fairly out in the open) themes in the film is corporate greed = bad. This is a silly film about a silly park owner, politics are not necessary and neither are watered down jokes. The premise is great, execution sucked. If you like Knoxville and Jackass you should enjoy it. But it really isn't all that great. One final point, the park the film is based on was pretty bad, but nothing like in the film. But hey I suppose it's comedy. Slightly above average.

I'm a big jackass fan who has been on board since the CKY stuff. Listened to JK on Stern last week and figured I would give Action Point a shot. Holy lord was it bad. There wasn't a laugh in the entire film. It was almost uncomfortable for me to be in the theater, because I really felt bad for JK. This has to be the end in terms of anyone ever bank rolling a feature film for these guys ever again. RIP gentlemen, it's been a fun ride.

This movie was supposed to be based on the actual Action Park in New Jersey which was a haven of stretching safety rules and "innovative" attractions as a way to compete with better funded parks popping up. It was deemed so unsafe and son many people were hurt that it eventually closed.

For some reason production could not source the rights to that story and came up with a different one. One that is written around quite laughable pranks and tricks. If you demand too much from this movie you will be disappointed, if you want to laugh just see it even if at points it seems rudderless.

Many characters weren't well developed in the story, but if there's a reason why I give it an 8 instead of a 6 is Eleanor Worthington-Cox. She's too talented for a film like this, yet when the script allowed she really pulled it off.

Just go and see it and laugh.

The story is pretty thin and predictable, but the portfolio of funny characters is great. I especially like the view of the 70s in terms of fun, freedom from rules, carelessness and mainstream thinking. A great film for a buddy evening to scream away!

The positives of Action Point are few and far between. I liked the idea for this movie, lets try Jackass with a plot about an amusement park. Its cool that they decided to do Action Point as a period piece (you couldn't do it as a modern day movie which D.C. even points out). Also, as much as I wouldn't cast him in a Scorsese movie, Johnny Knoxville is still fun to watch. He has a certain kind of charm and there were a few points where we were laughing because of how well he sells his stunts. That's all the nice things I can say about Action Point.

Action Point is best summarized as if the Jackass movies tried to work in a coming-of-age story and lets save the rec centre as a through lines. I thought this was an interesting idea, if done right you could get the outrageous fun of Jackass with some effort to create an actual movie (I enjoy the Jackass movies but they're a collection of skits, there's no plot). The problem is that the plot is so simple and nonsensical that you can't form the emotional connection to D.C.'s (Johnny Knoxville) and Boogie's (Eleanor Worthington-Cox) relationship that the movie is counting on you to have. Why should I care if Boogie gets to go to the Clash concert? Why should I suspend my disbelief enough to buy these brutally incompetent villains not being able to shut this park down immediately? Should D.C. be the primary guardian for Boogie when it's obvious so many blows to the head have decreased his capability in almost everything? I came to watch the mayhem and if you're going to commit to a story, put in a more concerted effort to tell something interesting.

I don't want to say much about the acting, the cast as a whole is decent. I've already thrown some credit Knoxville's way and I liked the performance of Eleanor even if her character and her motivations were run-of-the-mill. The rest of the cast deserved better, to their credit they didn't just phone it in but I didn't think there were many standouts.

This movie was pretty bad but I never got angry with it. This was mainly due to the stunts, even if some of them were tame compared to Knoxville's previous work and they spoiled the best ones in the trailer. I'll also credit most of the cast (especially Knoxville and Eleanor Worthington-Cox) for putting some effort in (just past the bare minimum) when it would have been easy to just throw whatever up on the screen considering how weak the material turned out to be. I saw this with a friend and we agreed it was pretty bad but we got enough laughs to avoid calling the trip to the theatre a total waste. I can't recommend this movie though, if you want to see something wild, watch Knoxville and his crew's old stuff. If you're interested in this story, read up on the park that inspired the movie. Unless you're dying to see this, you're better off skipping Action Point.

In the "golden era" of television, there was a variety of shows that served to entertain, teach, and all out shock the audience. While sitcoms, cartoons, and the soap operas reigned supreme, there were a few shows out there trying to make their mark. One of these was Jackass, a show that was all about taking the wildest, stupidest dares and making them a reality. Despite all the self-harm, destruction, and lack of logic, this show thrived and led to Knoxville producing a number of movies to support his endeavors. After some hiatus, the master of stunts and ridiculousness is back again in the form of another of a stunt palooza. Robbie K, here to provide insight into the latest silver screen, as we review:

Movie: Action Point

Director: Tim Kirkby Writers: John Altschuler (screenplay by), Dave Krinsky (screenplay by) Stars: Johnny Knoxville, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Susan Yeagley

LIKES:

Cute Motives at times: Among the ridiculous stunts, alcoholism, and dirty humor, there lies a soft, chewy center of family bonding and love. Action Point helps display the hardships of parenting, and in some cases grandparenting, which will speak to many and perhaps demonstrate the importance of balance and understanding. It's a small lesson embedded in the seas of ridiculous stunts, but decently presented to say the least.

Stunts: You can say what you want about how illogical it is to harm one's self for a laugh, but I give credit to Knoxville for still doing his own stunts. Despite being almost 50, he took point in all the injuring scenes and sequences, some of which could easily break a hip, or a neck. His youthful gang is starting to inherit the mantle, but the directors still has a few tricks up his sleeve to bring a laugh.

Fast Pace/Short Run Time: Editing is always impressive to me and Knoxville achieves his desired goal in a short amount of time. Action Point has cut out a lot of fluff, bringing pertinent shots, plot points, and balance between past and present while maximizing the disaster at hand. While you might feel gipped out of a movie for not being at least 90 minutes long, to have the movie feel complete in the short time gets mad props from me, which doesn't happen that often.

The Bear: I'm not talking the mascot, but the actual animal that is in the movie. Knoxville's crew got a bear involved in the movie, and his scenes are humorous to me, primarily when they start harnessing its unique skills for their own promotions. Nevertheless, have a laugh at the impressive performance from a non-English speaking cast member.

DISLIKES:

Little Story: I'm a story guy and no surprise, the movie has little to no story outside a paper-thin plot to ground the stunts to. While this is to be expected in this type of movie, as a reviewer I have to look at all components for my review and Knoxville's team fails on this level for me. Yes, there is some slight character development in the leads, but not much to warrant giving two thumbs up.

Stale Stupidity: Knoxville may get kudos for tackling his self-harm adventure head first, but subjecting himself to the illogical torture gets old after a while. The constant slapstick crashes, pranks, and running into stuff purposefully gets old after a while. Outside of a few scenes, including the bear parts, the movies repetitive comedic focus lost its touch very quickly, resulting in a rather bland attempt at laughs. Most of the audience in my group seemed to have the same reaction as well, so don't expect masterpiece here.

Over the Line: It wouldn't be Knoxville without crossing the line, but there were some major moments that I certainly did not enjoy. Seeing dogs get it on, rather heated sex scene, animal cruelty, and continuous abuse of alcohol are not the things that make a great movie for me. While small in number, the team maximized these moments and not in a classy way at all.

THE VERDICT:

Action Point doesn't sell you short on what the trailers promised. It's a ridiculous ride of Knoxville's usual repertoire of skits with a little cuteness/sincerity thrown in to sweeten the deal. While I understand this is the point of all his works though, the movie doesn't have enough gusto, uniqueness, or creativity to warrant a theater visit. Action Point would have served better as an extended TV special or Netflix series. In addition, it may not turn out as funny as you might expect, mostly because of either the inappropriate moments or the stale comedic slapstick (much of which was ruined by the trailers). Overall, I suggest skipping this one and trying something else in the silver screen.

My scores:

Comedy: 5.5 Movie Overall: 4.0

'Action Point' is Johnny Knoxville's fictional take on the real life Action Park, the notorious amusement park in Vernon, New Jersey, that was largely considered to be amongst the most dangerous ever conceived.

If Johnny Knoxville had grown up a Jersey kid, Action Park would've surely been his Shangri-La. But the fictionalized story just doesn't do either justice.

The narrative is about as simple as it can possible get. And there aren't enough Jackass-type stunts to make up for the lack of a compelling story. So the movie--like Johnny--ends up falling on its back.

If you have seen the trailer then just skip the movie. I was hoping for more slapstick and less plot. Very dissapointing

Let me get this out of the way, I'm a bit of an amusement park geek, and Action Park is one of the most interesting parks that ever existed (look up a web documentary, there are many). This movie perfectly captures the feeling of Action Park based on what I can tell from the web documentaries. Action Park really had the crazy Alpine Sled, the looping water slide, the Tarzan Swing that went out into the lake where lady park guests would flash and guys would moon the crowd; and above all else, Action Park was dangerous, with 6 known fatalities and hundreds of injuries. This movie captures all of that.

Now as an actual movie, it's really good (at least better than expected). The trailers were all "watch the jackass guys make a crazy amusement park based on Action Park," and it was SO much more than that. First off, it's all set as a grandfather telling his granddaughter a story of her mom when she was younger (something that my grandparents did a lot when I was younger, and it was really heartwarming in that regard). Next, the movie isn't just "dude, lets make a crazy amusement park," it's "I made a little amusement park for the locals, just living the American dream, and trying to maintain it when a rival park challenges it," a true "American dream" story. Last and most important, DC the main character isn't doing all this because he just wants to be a capitalist, he does it because he made a family with the employees and doesn't want to lose that, along with trying to include his daughter in all the craziness, and it's not all "jackass guys getting hurt and getting right up again" kinds of craziness.

It's not a movie for everyone, I'll admit that, but if you liked Adventureland you'll probably like Action Park.

I wasn't a fan of the Show Jackass, but I loved Johnny Knoxville in this movie. He nailed It and all the craziness of the real park from the 70's. We didn't have helmets and elbow and knee pads. We didn't have helicopter parents, they just wanted us outta their hair and shoved us out the door to play outside. I'm still riddled with battle scars from my childhood misadventures from flying on our bikes, skateboards in an empty pool, rolling down hill in those giant metal trashcans and any other stupid thing we thought sounded fun. We were just having fun and amusing each other and ourselves without thinking about consequences. I'm surprised so many of us survived. Ha ;D Watch this movie if your a 60's and 70's kid, it will reel in a ton of freaky fun memories. And the rest of you later gens on your phones and laptops and xboxes can be jealous of us having A REAL GOOD STUPID TIME of our lives, instead of rotting our brain and eyes on a screen. I feel sad for you all. :(

Not a good movie but if you used to like jackass this movie is going to bring you back those memories.

In Knoxville's, interesting, movie career I have never witnessed him purposefully try to play anything safe. This film represents everything wrong with shock humor played safe, and it's so disappointing. This is a waste of time and I truly can't imagine why any studio let this film see light. Some of the stunts are okay, but aren't anywhere close to the standard of Jackass.

• Mitchell Bulfin