Blue Crush (2002)

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

John Stockwell's Blue Crush treads so close to the line of falling into the category of impossibly unrealistic romance fare but rebounds significantly by having its main character never lose sight of what's important to her. Just as you think the romantic element of the film will hijack the idea of the conflicts of self-motivation and self-doubt the narrator is having with herself, writers Stockwell and Lizzie Weiss rebound and help the romantic interest of the film's lead character motivate her rather than distract her. In addition, the film also respectfully portrays the surfing culture as more than a gaggle of stoned losers that ride waves and do nothing but slum when the tide comes in.The film stars Kate Bosworth, an actress who, I assume, in 2002 was looking to be the next Kirsten Dunst or Reese Witherspoon until the glory faded, as Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth), a teenager working as a maid at a tourist hotel in Hawaii and surfing with her best friends Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake) on the side. Anne Marie is also taking care of her fourteen-year-old sister Penny (Mika Boorem) after their mother left for Las Vegas with another guy she met, in addition to training for her surfing comeback in a huge, publicized competition in North Shore. Winners, or highly-skilled participants, of the race are known to get surfing magazine deals left and right, and being a famous female surfer, breaking the stereotype, and gaining the glory for women everywhere is part of Anne Marie's dream.In the mix, she winds up meeting Matt Tollman (Matthew Davis), an NFL quarterback in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. Both individuals catch the eye of each other, but don't immediately strike up any flirtatious behavior because both have other things on their mind. Overtime, however, the two drift towards each other and wind up becoming closer, with Anne Marie's resistance always remaining in tact, as she doesn't want to be another hilarious story for Matt to tell his teammates when he gets back to the mainlands. However, Anne Marie finds out she may need Matt for the motivation and encouragement that she finds difficult to provide herself with, despite being highly-qualified and filled with talent.Blue Crush features some superbly photographed surfing scenes, shot with crisp, directorial command by Stockwell and made clear and evocative thanks to the cinematographical work of David Hennings. The final twenty minutes of the film are some of the most electric scenes of surfing I have yet to see, and work wonderfully in terms of shifting the focus away from what could be sentimental romance fluff into something truly breathtaking and original.At the end of the day, however, Blue Crush, while harmless, is also pretty simplistic; it's bears a very surface depiction of its characters despite not having the predictable pitfalls of its genre. Bosworth accentuates a nice charm, and the way that Stockwell and Weiss avoid the easier route is a commendable feat, on top of all the lush photography, but there's not enough drama that is gripping enough to invest in that doesn't seem oversimplified or voided by a lack of conversation in the film. Blue Crush serves as more intriguing basic entertainment than a great deal of other films made during or after its time, mainly due to the way it nicely avoids convention, yet there's still not a great deal of substance here outside of the fact that the predictably absorbing love interest doesn't monopolize the entire film on arrival.Starring: Kate Bosworth, Matthew Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Sanoe Lake, Mika Boorem, and Faizon Love. Directed by: John Stockwell.

Released in 2002, "Blue Crush" tells the story of three young female surfers in Hawaii who support their lifestyle as maids at a high-class hotel. Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) has dreams of going professional, but she has to get over her past failures and her family's breakup to succeed. In the meantime a vacationing NFL quarterback (Matthew Davis) romances her and she has to determine if their relationship is real or just a fling (for him, that is). Michelle Rodriguez and Sanoe Lake co-star as Anne Marie's surfing friends.As you can see, "Blue Crush" is a 'sports film' in the manner of "Karate Kid" and a host of others. Although some of these movies go the comedy route -- e.g. "Cloud 9" and "Bad News Bears" -- "Crush" is a serious drama with fun flashes.Filmed on the beaches/resorts of O'ahu, Hawaii, this is a beautiful and exhilarating film to watch, the perfect remedy if the weather in your area has been dreary.There's no profanity, raunch or t&a exploitation but, to be expected, the film features some good-looking women in swimwear throughout its 104-minute runtime (dudes too, if you're a woman). By "good-looking" I mean realistically so, not like "Baywatch" which normally featured masses of ultra-hot babes swarming the beaches.For the first hour the film was pretty much what I expected it to be, nothing great but moderately entertaining for this type of flick, and then something happened at the the 58-minute mark that struck a chord with me. Anne Marie hits the waves with her friend (Rodriquez) to prepare for the Pipeline Masters as we hear the song "Youth of the Nation" by P.O.D. This sequence touched me for some reason. The music & lyrics are emotionally potent and effectively set the tone for the remainder of the film."Youth of the Nation" exemplifies the zeitgeist of the new millennium just as "My Generation" perfectly represents the mid-60s and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" typifies the 90s (I was gonna say "and just as 'Muskrat Love' typifies the 70s" as a joke but decided not to, lol). Anyway, everyone's heard the song by now but if you're not sure go to youtube and listen to it with lyrics; it's an incredible piece, to say the least, and dig those heartrending lyrics! It's reality, my friend.For me, the film's just compelling enough to give a marginal thumbs up. Fans of surfing and Bosworth (or any of the other actors) will appreciate "Blue Crush" more than me. But I was moved by the above musical interlude and one other thing...What affected me most with the story is the picture of the three maids, impoverished and disdained by the snobs but full of youthful zeal and hope. It strangely reminded me of something I experienced on my last trip to Southern California. I was leaving the last showing of a theater late at night and spied the janitorial crew coming in to clean with their mops & buckets. They were Mexicans, mostly young, and possibly illegal aliens. Everyone walked by them as if they were invisible, like they were the scum of society or something. But I made a point to acknowledge them and smile. I don't feel I deserve a medal for this or anything; it's just that I made a decision long ago that, no matter how far I go in life, I'm not going to look down on or ignore those in a more modest position. Why? I don't know, maybe because I'M scum.The film runs 104 minutes.GRADE: B-

Unless you really enjoy B movies or surfing then this movie isn't worth your time. I admit there were some neat surfing shots but outside of that this film had no redeeming qualities. The plot, if you can call it one, revolves around surfer phenom Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) making a comeback to the sport after nearly drowning, she hit her head on a rock, during a competition. The film tracks Anne Marie as she prepares for a major surfing competition while trying to overcome lasting psychological effects of her near drowning experience. Overall, the plot was filled with clichés and the acting was bad to, at times, atrocious. Even the solid surfing scenes weren't enough to pique my interest. So unless you want to watch relatively unappealing (sorry, Kate) women surfing then I'd pass on this movie.

This is a great movie! The surfing scene's are brilliant! Everything is perfect! Even the house and car made me feel all warm inside! We're actually thinking about moving to Hawaii thanks to this movie. There are some stupid mistakes in this movie. I'm a big fan of Michelle Rodriquez, but don't let her play in a surf movie if she can't surf... When she's surfing you can't see her face or you only see her back... so that's kind of pathetic... But this movie is funny, romantic, exciting, active and so much more! In one word: Great! I really don't understand why there are so many people who don't like this movie... It's really great! If it's a hot summer night and you're with you boyfriends/girlfriend you should definitely watch this movie!