# What am I missing from Point Break? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145 "2009-09-07T05:32:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/21 "2009-09-08T15:33:41Z")
Accusing Keanu Reeves of poor line delivery is like accusing Edward G. Robinson of being too nasal - it’s missing the point. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/22 "2009-09-08T15:39:17Z")
I peel the skin off chicken. That’s all I really remember from the film. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/23 "2009-09-08T15:43:58Z")
[QUOTE=Banquet Bear] …Point Break? Is that the one where Keanu rolls to the ground, fired his gun in the air and yelled, “AHHHHH!”? [/QUOTE] \*\*Point Break \*\*is awesome if for no other reason, it inspired 90% the dialogue from **Hot Fuzz.** (\*\*Bad Boys II \*\*inspired the other 90%.) Clearly the OP has something against adreneline-fueled action thrill-rides. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/24 "2009-09-08T15:55:03Z")
Incidentally - for you \*Scrubs \*fans out there, the film also features a first-rate early John C. McGinley [rant](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh0KcpYeMVQ). ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/25 "2009-09-08T16:41:22Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Accusing Keanu Reeves of poor line delivery is like accusing Edward G. Robinson of being too nasal - it’s missing the point. Bill! I am an FBI Agent! I know Kung Fu! Same wooden delivery. It doesn’t matter what the genre of film is: A Walk in The Clouds Matrix Trilogy Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure / Bogus Journey My Private Idaho Dangerous Liaisons Speed Point Break Keanu keanot act. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/26 "2009-09-08T16:48:02Z")
Untrue. He plays a \*terrific \*Keanu Reeves. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/27 "2009-09-08T17:03:24Z")
Maybe Keanu is the same guy in all his movies? That would explain a lot. After Bill & Ted, he is sent into Witness Protection and changes his name to Johnny Utah because he thinks it sounds cool. The Matrix movies are a result of one too many head knocks and recreational drug use while surfing. Later he cleans up his act and is the cop in Speed, again changing his name in case Bohdi survives and comes after him. John Harker is his ancestor. I need less free time. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/28 "2009-09-08T17:20:06Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Incidentally - for you \*Scrubs \*fans out there, the film also features a first-rate early John C. McGinley [rant](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh0KcpYeMVQ). Damn this place of work for blocking the Youtube. Damn it all to Hell! I’m not a big fan of Point Break, but I’ll give it its due for helping inspire Hot Fuzz. Plus it’s got Gary Busey from when he was wacky fun and not wacky scary as he is now. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/29 "2009-09-08T17:28:57Z")
In a nearly completely unrelated tangent, we rented Point Break on laserdisc when we bought our TV (first real purchase as a couple. It was a special moment.) So my girlfriend, roommate and roommate’s daughter were watching a TV that was too big for the space, and the moonlight surfing scenes are going on and I’m reading the instruction manual for the TV…cuz I’m a geek, and it sure is bright. and I say: “Hey! This thing’s got a _cinema\_mode_!” and push a button on the remote, cutting the brightness by 1/3rd and ‘adjusting the color for the optimal movie experience’. The sigh of relief was palpable. I think we were actually getting sunburnt. watching surfer dudes surf at night. Sorry, it just brought back a memory, I’ll sit down now. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/30 "2009-09-08T20:25:35Z")
Was this the movie where they robbed banks while wearing masks of former presidents? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/31 "2009-09-08T20:33:30Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Really? When was that? Maybe I need to watch it again. It’s easy to miss. Look for the part right between where it says, “Point Break” on the screen, and the part where it starts telling you who played which character. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/32 "2009-09-08T20:38:54Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > Bill! > > I am an FBI Agent! > > I know Kung Fu! > > Same wooden delivery. > > It doesn’t matter what the genre of film is: > > A Walk in The Clouds > Matrix Trilogy > Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure / Bogus Journey > My Private Idaho > Dangerous Liaisons > Speed > Point Break > > Keanu keanot act. How could you forget: I’m a lawyer! That’s what I do!! from _The Devil’s Advocate_. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/33 "2009-09-08T20:52:47Z")
You’re not missing anything. Despite the film’s best intentions at trying to make the Swayze character some type of hip, mystical zen-surf guru whose final wish to go out in a wave of glory not only be respected but valorized, he is actually just a scumbag and a reprobate, and if the film had any real balls or convictions, it would have had Keanu take his “mentor” and throw him in the can instead of moronically letting him hit that surf one last time in a swell of faux-machismo bullshit. And I think Reeves often gets a very raw deal when it comes to his acting chops, but here, every ounce of criticsm about his “craft” is completely justified. He may be pretty (YMMV), but he’s abysmal in _PB_. A boneheaded movie from first frame to last. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/34 "2009-09-08T20:55:45Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Maybe Keanu is the same guy in all his movies? That would explain a lot. After Bill & Ted, he is sent into Witness Protection and changes his name to Johnny Utah because he thinks it sounds cool. The Matrix movies are a result of one too many head knocks and recreational drug use while surfing. Later he cleans up his act and is the cop in Speed, again changing his name in case Bohdi survives and comes after him. John Harker is his ancestor. > > I need less free time. :eek: When you have more free time, find a way to work in his appearance in Brannagh’s _Much Ado about Nothing_ and we’ll have a winnah! ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/35 "2009-09-08T23:07:21Z")
I have always loved this movie… I admit, it is simply awful but I love it all the same… from the corny plot lines (boy meets girl… boy meets surfer… boy hurts knee and loses football scholarship then joins FBI, then boy finds camaraderie in group of outlaws… boy re-injures knee… boy learns to surf and finds love along the way), the shallow relationships, and the cheesy action, to the dialog that Utah could only deliver after reading the cue cards phonetically ("you may have a death wish, but you don’t have to take Tyler too - he pauses - let her go). However, perhaps the best line of the entire movie is delivered by Pappas: _“I’m so hungry I could eat the ass end out of a dead rhino, I should have had you get me three of these things!”_ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/36 "2009-09-08T23:18:09Z")
> [@phungi](#): > > However, perhaps the best line of the entire movie is delivered by Pappas: > > _“I’m so hungry I could eat the ass end out of a dead rhino, I should have had you get me three of these things!”_ Yes, so very, very bad. My own “best line” is Johnny’s declaration of being an FBI agent: "I am an FBI…line?..oh yeah…AGENT!!! ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/37 "2009-09-09T00:00:17Z")
Apparently there is actually a restaurant called Patrick’s Roadhouse. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/38 "2009-09-09T09:07:55Z")
I thought that the life style that the ex presidents lived was pretty fulfilling,if you like watching pro sports on the couch then it wouldn’t be for you. I thought that it was totally silly though when they were having a conversation while free falling ,yeah right and I also smoke a pipe when scuba diving. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/39 "2009-09-09T10:20:33Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Was this the movie where they robbed banks while wearing masks of former presidents? i believe so. it has been a while since i’ve seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145/40 "2009-09-09T14:16:57Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > i believe so. it has been a while since i’ve seen it. Yep, ex-presidents Reagan, Carter, Nixon, and Johnson. It would have been fun to see Utah dressed as, say, Polk, and have no one recognize him. Incidentally, Wiki says a sequal is in the works. [Read it and weep](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Break#Sequel). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-am-i-missing-from-point-break/509145.md?page=3)