Keanu Reeves (left) and Patrick Swayze in a famous scene from their ironically iconic film.Credit:
But really the fascination ofPoint Break is in what a thumpingly terrible actor Keanu Reeves was. Sometimes the whole movie feels like a prank at his expense,like he’s been told to read his lines as if he’s Al Pacino inScarfacewhile everyone on set is laughing at him. But are they? The horrifying thing is that,in the America of that time,they probably weren’t.
Reeves as Johnny Utah:a Derek Zoolander prototype?Credit:
Reeves’ clueless affect had worked as a boy hustler inMy Own Private Idaho,which was released the same year asPoint Break. Tragically,while hisIdaho co-star River Phoenix died,Reeves was left alive to pursue thePoint Break fork in the road and turn himself into a hero of films in which stunts and action could not quite obscure his absence of acting ability.