Review: Point Break

       Point Break is one of those ridiculous movies that gains notoriety and popularity because of how ridiculous it is. It's sort of like Top Gun if instead of being about hot shot fighter pilots, it's about a rookie cop trying to catch a group of bank robbers in Los Angeles. Also there's surfing. And skydiving. And pseudo-buddhist philosophy. The acting is just as over the top as the plot, and it's not just Gary Busey that I'm referring to. While this movie is certainly entertaining, it's hard to take it as seriously as it takes itself.

       Keanu Reeves plays an FBI rookie with the thankless name Johnny Utah. He was a star quarterback at Ohio State who played in the Rose Bowl, but missed out on going to the NFL due to a devastating knee injury. Utah is assigned to working in Los Angeles where he teams up with Gary Busey to catch a group of bank robbers who call themselves the “Ex-Presidents” because they rob banks while wearing rubber masks of various former commanders-in-chief. Busey gets the idea that these guys are surfers based on video evidence of a tan-line on one of the robbers. It's then Utah's job to learn how to surf so that he can infiltrate the surfer society and perhaps find out who these guys are. Utah falls for his surfing instructor Tyler (Lori Petty), and meets her ex-boyfriend Bodhi (Patrick Swayze), who is the only interesting character in this whole movie. Bodhi takes Utah under his wing and they go on all sorts of adrenaline fueled adventures, including skydiving. Things take a turn when Utah learns that Bodhi and his surfer buddies are the Ex-Presidents and he must work to catch them before they leave the country.

       There are some action sequences which are genuinely gripping in this film. A chase through the streets, alleys, and living rooms of Los Angeles as well as a scene where Keanu Reeves jumps out of a plane without a parachute in order to tackle a free-falling Patrick Swayze who is wearing a chute and then holds a gun to his head. The plot is all over the place though. The idea of surfing bank robbers is just so absurd that it doesn't seem like it could fit in the same movie as a former All-American quarterback turned FBI agent with a bum knee. Also there's Gary Busey who does his thing as a crazy person. John C. McGinley also appears as the angry police chief who is never pleased with anything either Reeves or Busey does. Overall, the acting in this movie is terrible. Reeves continues his portrayal of a surfer dude that he gave in the Bill and Ted movies. In fact, Point Break came out between the Bill and Ted movies. Gary Busey is just insane the entire time. Patrick Swayze isn't too bad, and the character of Bodhi is somewhat interesting as he tries to reconcile his hippy surfer dude mentality with his violent bank robber ways. If this movie was at least a little bit tongue-in-cheek, it would be greatly improved, but the material here is taken so seriously that the film comes across as downright ridiculous.