BY MALLORY GRAVES >LA.COM

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'Point Break LIVE' is the kind of shameless pleasure that requires absolutely no attention span or general wealth of knowledge.
You don't even need to have seen the movie 'Point Break'. You do need to appreciate the brilliance of Keanu-isms.

Or not...

What's so great about the concept of resurrecting borderline C-movies from the distant early 90's and bringing them to a 12x12 stage? Well, so much it's a bit overwhelming. It's the kind of lightbulb moment that occurs in a dirty basement of a wasted evening while Partick Swayze and Keanue Reeves duke it out mid sky-dive: "Dude, we should like, make this into a play," someone says post-beer bong. Then someone else slurs, "Yeah, and we should like, have a different dude play Keanu every night." So inconceivable it like, totally works.

'Point Break LIVE' started in New York (fitting) and has finally found its way to L.A., which is the actual setting for the movie. The show was held downtown at the intimate (and easy to miss) venue at the Alexandria Hotel's Charlie O's. Note: the play will be running every Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm through ???? (so their playbill says). Tickets can be purchased at theatermania.com.

Charlie O's was the ideal joint for this kind of entertainment, you might soon realize as soon as you are offered a brown sac "Survival Kit" for $1 upon entry. If you are particularly concerned about keeping your Ramones tee-shirt bone dry, you have the option of wearing a really sweet poncho. For those who prefer to live on the edge when say, using the unisex bathroom in the back, two stalls do not mean both sexes at the same time (I was shooed out by a other-sexed stagehand).

Faulty sign-age aside, the action got going right away when the coveted role of Johnny Utah (Keanu, brah!) was offered up to audience members as a line-up stage audition. Difficult and thought-provoking lines such as "Whoa" and "I am an FBI agent" tested the actors presence and delivery in ways no stunt could. The final result: a 5'5 emo-looking blond guy with glasses whose eerily perfect Keanu accent made the entire show a success. Really makes you wonder how they handle a Keanu that totally blows. After being wardrobed in a wet suit, Johnny Utah was escorted onstage by a knee-socked cue card chick with pigtails. The entire show was carried by Johnny Utah reading off of these cue cards. A potentially daunting task ended up being the most brilliant aspect of the show.

If you haven't seen the movie, you were at a slight disadvantage, but nothing that any normal humored person wouldn't dig right away. Agent Harp (Gary Busey in the movie) was lumpy gutted and all jaw, with a habitual twitch that shook baby powder out of his coif every few seconds. NICE! (Possible prosthetic nose noted too). Bodhi (Swayze's character) had the surfer-zen persona down pat, and his entourage of homoerotic, well oiled bank robbers stole the show.

If you're expecting cutting edge action scenes, I'm not sure it gets much better than this. On a stage so small and surroundings hardly conducive to flying shrapnel, sky diving and buckets of "ocean" water, the action is packed. When I say packed, I mean compact.

The ending dragged a little, especially if you weren't sitting on a couch or at a table. The fighting sequences could have been shortened by a good fifteen minutes. Viewing room was scarce at times, but should you miss any of the action, a video camera puts all the goods on surrounding TV's. If you're short and you don't have a good seat, you could really be in trouble for the "LIVE" parts.

Do yourself a favor and don't enter this experience uptight.

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>review

POINT BREAK LIVE 

What: The onstage adaptation of 1991 movie 'Point Break' including bank robberies, surfing, audience participation, wind machines, sky diving, high speed chases...

Where: Charlie O's at the Alexandria Hotel, downtown

When: Fridays and Saturday nights @ 8pm

In a nutshell: About the most dead-on dose of hilarity to ever a) be onstage and 2) be an adaptation of a cheesy Keanu Reeves flick. Really makes you wonder: "Why haven't they done this before?" My personal pitch for this sort of genre: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." The movie, not the show. Duh.

Tickets: $20, theatermania.com

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Photos compliments of MySpace.com

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