In Action (2020 | USA | 78 minutes | Sean Kenealy, Eric Silvera)
How hard can it really be to write the script for a big budget action movie? The dialogue doesn’t have to be good and the real magic happens when shit blows up or there’s fighting. It might not be something any idiot could do, but if you got two idiots together, you just might have something.
I don’t actually believe a word of what I wrote in that previous paragraph, but it was a fun way to describe the idea behind the new “action” film In Action. Sean Kenealy and Eric Silvera are a couple of dudes, named Sean and Eric, who drink beer and talk about other women they have no chance with, and decide they want to rekindle their college-era ambitions of writing an action movie.
The plot of the movie revolves around Sean and Eric writing the movie, so it’s quite self-referential, making its low budget part of the film’s charm. The movie wouldn’t work if it wasn’t funny, and fortunately, it’s very funny. Plus it obliterates the fourth wall with toy machine guns.
In Sean and Eric’s “movie,” their script gets intercepted by the government because it’s seen as describing a terrorist plot to kidnap the president’s daughter. Perhaps while she’s in the throes of passion with her Secret Service agent. They get snatched up and are held in a secret facility to extract info on how the ending turns out. And they have to talk their way out of the pickle they’re in.
The movie alternates between Kenealy and Silvera recounting the elaborate plot and how they were mixed up in it, and the movie playing out. They use fake guns and faker blood for much dramatic effect, and one scene is made with a bunch of toys.
The movie looks like it was made for however much money is in my wallet right now (currently $56 dollars), but that’s part of the charm. They leaned into the campiness and the lack of a budget and relied on their humor and charisma to carry the film. And damned if it didn’t work.
In Action can be found on your favorite VOD services now.