There are several reasons why I saw this movie. The first and most obvious one is that it's filled with scantily clad women. Another reason is because it seemed to have a decent story. Finally, I read a few surprisingly positive reviews, including one glowing review by my current favorite film journalist, David Poland. Roger Ebert also gave this movie a positive review, but Ebert's opinions don't mean as much to me as they used to. In fact, he's gotten pretty bad. Case in point, if he didn't like "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones," fine, but his reason for not liking the now famous "Yoda" lightsaber fight is ridiculous. How can he actually say that it's not believable for the "Yoda" character to do that? The guy is a freakin' Jedi Master! "Yoda" may be a wise old man, but he's a warrior! I'm tellin' ya, Roger Ebert is slippin'.
"Blue Crush" is pretty good, but it's not great. I think that the positive reviews are based on low expectations. The critics walk in expecting crap, and then they're surprised to see that this movie actually has a story, and it preaches the importance of being responsible, as well as doing what you can to live your dreams. But when I saw it, my expectations weren't low because I read the positive reviews. I expected a good movie, and I got it. Is it great? Nope, not really. The story is good, though not entirely original. Think "Rocky," but reverse the sexes and and make it about surfing rather than boxing. Of course, I'm simplifying it, but that's the basic idea.
I think this movie was originally intended to be rated R. It's rated PG-13, but there were certain instances where the actors and actresses will be talking, and the mouth is saying the F-word, but you actually hear the word "hell." If it was rated R, does that mean there would have been nudity? This movie has no nudity at all, but I wonder if there is an R-rated version out there. If so, is it filled with lotsa f-words and nudity? Did all of that end up on the cutting room floor? To be honest with you, though I DO think that there may have been enough bad language to originally warrant an R-rating, I don't think that there were any nude scenes shot. It just didn't seem like that kinda movie. I could be wrong, though, and if there is an R-rated version released on DVD, that's the one I'm gonna get.
The young female cast is good, none of which are really big names. The biggest name is probably Michelle Rodriguez (she starred in "Girlfight," and she played Vin Diesel's girlfriend in "The Fast and the Furious"... she co-starred in "Resident Evil" with Milla Jovovich), but she isn't the main character. As usual, she plays a touch chick, but she doesn't kick anyone's ass in this film. Her toughness is more like a tough love kinda deal. She isn't a fantastic actress, but she's good enough, and I like the presence she brings to her characters. The main character is played by Kate Bosworth (she was in "Remember the Titans"), and she's pretty good. I don't know if she's big enough to be a leading lady in Hollywood, but I guess it's possible. Rounding out the circle of friends is Sanoe Lake (her feature film debut... I think she's a professional surfer, but I'm not sure... she's a very pretty girl of Japanese, Hawaiian and English decent), and Mika Boorem (she was in "Riding in Cars with Boys," "Hearts in Atlantis," "Along Came a Spider," "The Patriot," and others) as the little sister of the main character. There are some male characters in the movie, don't worry, ladies. Matthew Davis (he had a small role in "Pearl Harbor"... he was also in "Legally Blonde") plays the love interest of the main character, and there are a whole buncha guys who play these asshole surfer dudes. They were supposed to be comic relief, I think, but they weren't likable enough to be funny to me. The funniest one is Faizon Love (he was "Big Worm" in one of the funniest movies ever made, "Friday"). That dude was funny in this movie!
"Blue Crush" was directed by John Stockwell (he directed "Crazy/Beautiful," wrote and directed the HBO TV-Movie, "Cheaters," wrote the movie "Rock Star," and wrote the HBO TV-Movie, "Breast Men"). He did a decent job with the movie, making sure that it wasn't just a mindless movie with surfer chicks in bikinis. And the movie looked great visually (I'm not just talking about the girls in bikinis, though they DID look great). The shots of the people surfing were excellent. I loved the underwater shots, and you really get an understanding of the power of mother nature. Great stuff. The screenplay was by Lizzy Weiss & John Stockwell with a story by Lizzy Weiss (this is her feature film debut). The main inspiration of the film was a magazine article called "Surf Girls of Maui" by Susan Orlean (she wrote the book, "The Orchid Thief," which will be featured in the upcoming movie, "Adaptation"). I don't know anything about the magazine article, but the screenplay was good. Like I said, this coulda been a simple movie about sexy babes in bikinis, and though the movie had that, it was so much more. Again, there was nothing original about the movie, but it's a lot better than it coulda been.
I know a lotta people think I'm a total dork for seeing this movie, but it really is pretty good. It's not great, but it's an entertaining waste of an hour and 45 minutes. If you don't wanna see it in theaters, fine, you'll enjoy it as a DVD rental, but some of the surfing shots look a lot better on the big screen, and they made great use of movie theater sound technology. Whatever. See it or don't see it, okay? But I really think you should give the movie a chance.
Scale of 1-10: 7