Class Action Park

Name: Class Action Park
Genre: Documentary
Released: August 27, 2020
Duration: 90 min
Rating: 69
Cast: Chris Gethard, Jason Scott Sadofsky, Jimmy Kimmel, Johnny Knoxville

2020

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Ratings

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7.3

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7.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Ratings

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Class Action Park

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Movie Details & Credits

HBO Max | Release Date (Streaming): August 27, 2020 | Not Rated

Starring: Chris Gethard, Jason Scott Sadofsky, Jimmy Kimmel, Johnny Knoxville

Summary: Class Action Park is the first-ever feature-length documentary to explore the legend, legacy, and truth behind a place that long ago entered the realm of myth. To some, New Jersey's infamous Action Park was the most spectacularly fun amusement park on Earth: A place where unruly 1980s teenagers were given free rein to go gonzo on strangeClass Action Park is the first-ever feature-length documentary to explore the legend, legacy, and truth behind a place that long ago entered the realm of myth. To some, New Jersey's infamous Action Park was the most spectacularly fun amusement park on Earth: A place where unruly 1980s teenagers were given free rein to go gonzo on strange contraptions that seemed to violate the laws of common sense (and perhaps physics). To others, it was an ill-conceived death trap. One thing is sure: It's the type of place that will never exist again. Shirking the trappings of nostalgia, the film uses investigative journalism, newly unearthed and never-before-seen documents and recordings, original animations, and interviews with the people who lived it to reveal the true story for the first time. [HBO Max]… Expand

Director: Chris Charles Scott III and Seth Porges

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 90 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Michael Phillips

Aug 28, 2020

The documentary infers a good deal about Mulvihill’s underworld connections and political maneuvers without quite nailing them down. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Nick Allen

Aug 27, 2020

A sharp, funny, and bizarrely responsible documentary about an amusement park in Vernon, New Jersey. Read full review

Leah Greenblatt

Aug 27, 2020

The movie's just pure fun; a cock-eyed Valentine to a place so outrageous that death or dismemberment was an actual acceptable risk — but so was the chance to live, as one former security guard fondly recalls, in “an ‘80s movie that was real life. And it will never happen again.” Read full review

Matt Singer

Aug 27, 2020

Like the resort it captures, everything in this film is fun and games right up until the moment someone gets seriously injured. Read full review

Richard Whittaker

Sep 4, 2020

Yet Porges (who pops up as an expert talking head) and co-director Chris Charles Scott III never quite hit an even tone - or rather, there's a big divide, like bouncing along on a kiddy coaster that suddenly turns into a brutal corkscrew with a massive drop at the end. Read full review

Jen Chaney

Sep 7, 2020

Class Action Park tries with only partial success to capture the dissonance between the funny war stories told about that hazardous site and how awful and tragic it was that young people lost their lives there. Read full review

Charles Bramesco

Aug 27, 2020

For all its attempts to build itself into something more substantive, it’s still a day at the theme park. Read full review

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User Reviews

TheQuietGamer

Jun 20, 2021

Striking artwork aside, what drew me to this little documentary was having previously watched Action Point, a raunchy slapstick comedy led by Johnny Knoxville said to have been based on an actual amusement park. After witnessing those crazy stunts and the ridiculous deathtraps they calledStriking artwork aside, what drew me to this little documentary was having previously watched Action Point, a raunchy slapstick comedy led by Johnny Knoxville said to have been based on an actual amusement park. After witnessing those crazy stunts and the ridiculous deathtraps they called "rides" I naturally became very curious about the place they supposedly based all of it on, because surely it couldn't have been real, right? Turns out it could have! And it was just a wild, absurd, dangerous, and strangely magical as you might expect.

Through interviews with former attendees and employees alike we get a look at the insanity of "Action Park" and how it operated. It definitely feels like the kind of stuff you'd see in an over-the-top comedy and is a blast to learn about. At least until things get dark. The docu in no way glosses over the shadier aspects of the madness, be it the corruption behind-the-scenes or the deaths that occured as a result of the owner's negligence. The former is kind of surface level to avoid confusing the audience with a whole bunch of legal mumbo jumbo, but for the latter we get an emotional accounting from one of the deceased's family. It's a tonal 180 to be sure. One that kind of misses the mark as the film tries to go for a "the freedom of the '80s was great, kids today are whimps" message immediately after.

It's this kind of thing that keeps it from sitting alongside the likes of Kedi or Aliens of the Deep as both fun AND educational. Not that you won't walk away informed, it's just that all you'll really be getting are a bunch of facts and amusing insights in lieu of any deeper meaning. That proves to not be too much of a problem though, as the topic at hand is interesting and entertaining enough to make what it does offer worth watching regardless. Plus, it may make for a nice double feature with Action Point, as I can now fully appreciate what a fantastic job Knoxville and crew did at capturing the spirit of their inspiration.

7.7/10… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

geewah

Dec 24, 2020

An entertaining and funny doco on this legendary theme park.
It doesn't take it's self too seriously, which is in keeping with park itself.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Oct 18, 2021

There is a rather strange discord in this documentary because on one hand they talk about the opportunistic owner of the park who was not interested in the safety of the place, and how he used to screw people in court if they dare to sue him, but later another person speaks about his goodThere is a rather strange discord in this documentary because on one hand they talk about the opportunistic owner of the park who was not interested in the safety of the place, and how he used to screw people in court if they dare to sue him, but later another person speaks about his good ''other side''.

And also the guests who speak about their experiences in the place criticizing the security measures, to later remember with nostalgia that they had fun and survived those attractions.
Perhaps that would be an irrelevant addition, if it were not because the documentary also talks about the deaths that occurred in the place.

So is it either a critic or a reminder of sentimentality of old times? This documentary doesn't seem to know.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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