If You Gave a Jackass Movie a Plot

Johnny Knoxville's new movie Action Point is actually not that bad. Yes, it's not going to transcend cinema, yes, the slapstick pain inducing comedy of Knoxville is overplayed, and yes, there is not enough screen time given to a young cast that could have had more to do than being the minions that run Action Point. It's not going to be a top ticket seller even after two weeks in theaters, but it's worth a watch. It is definitely a movie you do not need to go see in theaters but worth watching if you scroll past it on Redbox, Netflix, or whatever movie streaming service you use.

Action Point opens with Knoxville in his Bad Grandpa mock up watching his young granddaughter as her mom goes to a wedding. To pass the time, Johnny Knoxville's character decides to tell his young granddaughter about his time running Action Point theme park and a summer her mother came to visit him and his theme park.

The rest of the movie follows Knoxville's character D.C. Carver as a younger theme park owner who runs the park with his piece together crew of college-age kids and longtime friend Benny, played by Jackass alumni Chris Pontius. This theme park is thrill seeker's paradise of an amusement park that transcends the careless reckless and blatant disregard of self-harm that kids would get into during the 1970s. D.C.'s daughter Boogie (Eleanor Worthington-Cox) also comes to the dangerous theme park for her yearly summer visits with her father. Though their business is undercut when a new corporate theme park opens 30 minutes down the road. It is up to D.C. and his team to drum up more business to save the park from the new theme park and Mr. Knoblach who want to sell the land that Action Point is on.

Knoxville is thrown from the ride above, through a barn wall, and blasted down a waterslide to appeal to audiences in this new installment from the ringleader of the original Jackass movies and TV show. That's all this movie is; it's a Jackass movie with a more complex plot with some actual heartfelt moments between Knoxville and Worthington-Cox's characters. The pair makes a great father-daughter duo in the film and they have a decent chemistry together. You can at least feel as if Knoxville does care about here. Action Point doesn't rely on surprising unsuspected civilians with the inappropriate grandson and grandfather relationship and actually has a small ounce of character development.

Towards the end, D.C actually has a realization that why he puts his heart and soul into Action Point is because after the divorce from his wife and losing Boogie in the divorce, he felt like he had no family until he created his own from the theme park. His feels guilty for missing his daughter grow up.

Again, it's a Jackass movie; there is no underlying message that Knoxville is trying to get across to the audience. This movie is to go and enjoy. I would say if you take out the slightly overplayed sex scene that leads to a pretty funny/disgusting punchline the brief one at the end, and some of the drug and alcohol references, then I think you can lower this movie to a PG-13 rating and take your kids to it. To be completely honest, kids would enjoy it as long as parents can get over their children seeing two small sex scenes where two people are having "sex" on camera.

All in all, Action Point is a pretty fun movie that pretty much the whole family can enjoy. When I saw it, there was a mom who brought her high school age son and a woman who brought who I can only assume was her father. Movies should allow you to forget the consequences of the real world and step into a new reality. At this theme park, there are no consequences or repercussions for anyone's actions. Although many people are injured during their time at the park no one sues D.C or the park for negligence. So sit back, relax, get a bag of popcorn and just have a light-hearted laugh at the expense of Knoxville's health and wellbeing.