Action Point is a 2018
American comedy film directed
by Tim Kirkby and starring Johnny Knoxville and Chris Pontius. Knoxville was inspired to make the film after
seeing Matt Robertson's 2013 short documentary The Most Insane Amusement
Park Ever, about Action Park, a theme park
in New Jersey which was notorious for poorly designed,
unsafe rides, in addition to employing underaged, undertrained and often
under-the-influence staff. As with Bad Grandpa,
a previous film by Knoxville, Action Point features
traditional Jackass-style stunts
connected by a fictional narrative. It was released in the United States on
June 1, 2018 by Paramount Pictures. It
underperformed at the box office and received mostly negative reviews from
critics, who called the film "boring, by-the-numbers and deflated. Deshawn
Chico "D.C." Carver (Johnny Knoxville) during a visit from his granddaughter
narrates his experiences about when he owned what he refers to as one of the
greatest amusement parks of all time. Many years ago, D.C. was the crackpot
owner of Action Point, a low-rent, out-of-control amusement park with dangerous
rides. Despite the immense danger due to inexperienced and untrained staff,
poorly designed rides, and minimal low quality maintenance, the park was
popular with kids due to being the only amusement park around. However, during one
season, a new amusement park, '7 Parks', with higher safety standards than
Action Point opens up and begins to steal its clientele. D.C. is also pressured
by his loan officer Knoblach into selling his land due to his failure to pay
off a $100,000 loan which will be nearly impossible due to the new competition.
Also, his estranged teenage daughter Boogie (Eleanor Worthington Cox)
comes to visit and begins to help out at the park as a summer job. One night,
D.C. and his staff break into '7 Parks' to observe their competition and
sabotage but trip the alarm and are nearly caught. D.C. realizes that he'll
need to come up with something big to compete. After his first idea causes him
to get blasted down one of his own waterslides, he has an epiphany and realizes
that they need to start promoting Action Point as a park about stuff
patrons can do, versus 7 Parks being about what they can't do.
He decides to take off all safety procedures and brakes on rides in an attempt
to make the park stand out, but this causes several people including himself to
be horribly injured. Boogie also confesses to Benny that the real reason she's
here is to get her dad to sign papers allowing for her mother's boyfriend to
become her legal guardian. As a publicity stunt, D.C. and the staff interrupt a
local TV broadcast promoting the park as so chaotic it must be shut down, and
this succeeds in bringing back customers, but sends the park into complete
anarchy due to the lack of rules and regulations. At Boogie's advice, D.C opens
up a kiddie land which is poorly designed and causes her to call legal
authorities who deem the park dangerous and shut it down. D.C. and the staff
fix up the park and it reopens, but are told that the bank has foreclosed on
the park and that they only have 10 business days to pay back the rest of the
loan. To draw more people, they shoot a TV commercial, which they swap with a
planned 7 Parks commercial after breaking into a local TV broadcast center. The
plan works and they are overwhelmed with customers. Just as they are able to
get on track to repay the loan on time, they are hit with a 2 million dollar
lawsuit from an injured patron at the park forcing him to dedicate himself to
his work. Upset that her father broke his promise to take her to a Clash
concert, Boogie gets drunk with the staff and they all get arrested. After D.C.
bails her out, she snaps at him and reveals about her intentions for him to
sign the papers. The next day, he finds that she's left and learns from a
janitor at the bus station that she may have left on a bus heading for Las
Vegas. Desperate, he and Benny chase down the bus with their car but lose it
after it collides with them. D.C. realizes that she wasn't on the bus and
tracks her to a restaurant. There, he explains that after he lost his family,
the park became his new family and the reason he was so obsessed with it was
because he didn't want to lose it as well. Unable to pay off his loan, he
decides to blow up the park and sell off the land to Knoblach. To get back at
him however, D.C. opens the park gates one last time distributing free beer to
everyone as he is no longer liable for any damages that will occur from this action.
The drunk patrons go wild and cause massive damage to the park, allowing it to
go out in glory. Knoblach attempts to stop the patrons from destroying
everything, but gets knocked out in the process. Late that night, the park is
in shambles and the staff gathers one last time shooting fireworks everywhere
to mark the end of an era. The next day, as Boogie prepares to leave, D.C.
proposes that the two of them instead take a road trip and during it stop in
Austin where Clash is playing. Boogie is overjoyed and the former park staff
offer to come along. D.C. finishes his story as Boogie arrives home and he
leaves after being told how much he means to both of them. He pretends to have
a heart attack in the yard, but Boogie knows he is faking it and calls him on
it as the two of them share a laugh.