The Malibu Bikini Shop (1986)

Fantastic!

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Just a fun movie set in the 80's before political correctness, which has driven movies to be largely manufactured with the same plots, and with a single developed character (supporting actors with real roles has become a thing of the past). The feminists will scream exploitation, but it's harmless fun, and extremely tame compared to what teenagers now watch on the internet by comparison - just bikinis and a few boobs. It's a fact of life that men will always look at women, especially good looking ones; and this film has a number of them, plus some good music. The plot was never meant to be drama, but just a light weight comedy about two boys inheriting a bikini shop - every guys dream; and their attempts to save it with marketing initiatives worth seeing. It was never attempting to win an academy award - the film doesn't take itself seriously; but rather just providing light titillation with a few chuckles & smiles. No murders or gratuitous violence; you just end up with a grin after watching it. Our world could do worse.

I'll make an admission, a plot, such as the one for Bikini Shop, doesn't concern me as I'm fully aware that a story in such a film is merely an excuse to show lots of pretty beach girls running around in bikinis throughout. I recognize many viewers will disregard a film like Bikini Shop and for good reason because it doesn't have a whole lot to say and will not change your way of life. It doesn't testify of the human condition in a grand, sweeping scale.It's a movie about two brothers, polar opposites, one who has graduated from a Chicago business college while the other has been touring the country looking for his calling. One is neatly dressed, polite, and very smart. The other is a slob, without a doubt(..he's unkempt and his eating habits are much to be desired) charming, worldly, enthusiastic, and always trying to score. While I admire the one brother for his skills as a man who understands order and knows how to approach people with manners and some integrity, I also can embrace his brother for he wants to score with hot chicks and has the looks and charisma to do so. Like so many wonderful 80's comedies, it has babes, boobs, and a beach. How could I not find something with these attributes at least somewhat appealing? It's one of those movies which fulfill the fantasies so many of us guys share. We dream with picture perfect clarity, smiling widely, about the idea of running a bikini shop, with three mega-watt hot salesgirls, right along a beach, always surrounded by girls on every turn. Two brothers, Alan and Todd(Michael David Wright and Bruce Greenwood)are given possession of a faltering bikini shop from their aunt who passed away. Todd wishes to operate it(..and, I can understand his reasoning)while Alan hopes to sell it for a great price so he can move on to his marriage to an insufferable wench.The threat to this harmonious dream is a thoroughly loathsome only child who always gets what she wants from her rich father. Her name is Jane and she is Alan's fiancé. She's one of those types who insists on controlling her men, whether it's her boyfriend or father. She's perfectly portrayed by Debra Blee as the villain for you hate her upon seeing her. It takes a special skill to instantly repel without even opening your mouth, only to be even worse once you talk. When it came to casting Jane, the filmmakers did one hell of a job, because you can't even imagine how annoying this bitch is until you get a load of her for yourself. Her every grating moment on screen has you wondering what could possibly motivate Alan to get with her.I think The Bikini Shop will be of interest to those accustomed to seeing Bruce Greenwood as some authoritarian figure, because he's the brother, Todd, who is always chasing tail, throwing parties regardless of what Alan thinks, and coming up with ways to help sell merchandise just so he can get up, close, and personal with the beautiful clientèle..Todd's my kind of guy. I mean, seeing Greenwood as this exuberant kid, never wearing a shirt, with jean shorts, grinning ear to ear every time a chick passes by, it's kind of odd..I mean, seriously, this is the guy who portrayed JFK for Chrissakes! Michael David Wright is Alan, the more mature and level-headed brother who wishes, or so he thinks, to have a balanced life without hang-ups, but he's on the cusp of attaching himself to a leech who'll suck him dry. Ronnie(Barbara Horan who is major yummy)is one of three salesgirls working at the shop when Alan and Todd arrive to run the business..Cindy and Kathy(Galyn Görg and Ami Julius)are the other two, eventually used as models thanks to the genius of Todd who thinks they could sell their product better if it were shown to the customers on the bodies of lovely honeys. Ronnie has dreams of designing bikinis and becomes Alan's love interest, for he has fantasies of making out with her, only they are often interrupted by the tyrant ruining his potential future if she gets her grip into him. Frank Nelson is the brothers' agent, Remington, doggedly working to pursue someone willing to buy the bikini shop. The Aunt, Ida, had left the business strapped for cash due to her lavish lifestyle.I imagine that a film such as this will get lost in amongst the army of bikini sex comedies that had littered the theaters and home video during the 80's. But, I'm easy, and The Bikini Shop was perfect junk food for a late Saturday night. One thing's for certain, there's no shortage of babes in this flick. I'm as superficial as it gets when it comes to these movies.

Two bothers, business oriented Alan, & the more fun loving, skirt-chasing Todd (Bruce Greenwood) inherit a bikini shop in Malibu and attempt to make the failing business profitable. At first in order to sell it. Meanwhile Alan (whom is engaged to the stunning, but whiny, spoiled Jane) is falling for Ronnie, a sexy worker at the shop.This is a typically lightweight '80's teen sex comedy that's a tad light in the nudity department when compared to other films of it's ilk, yet still holds a place in my heart, simply because it was a staple of USA's now sadly defunct "Up All Night" series which in turn was a big part of my formative years. Choice nudity from the stunning Bobbi Pavis doesn't hurt in the least, and it's always nice to see the late great Frank Nelson at work (sadly younger generations only know of him through his caricature on a few episodes of "The Simpsons") So if you're in the mood for stuffy 'old fogies' getting shocked at the 'hijinks' of teens, big hair, natural boobs, light escapism & other staples of the more innocent 1980's comedies, give this one a watch. (although the lengthy dance number & cheesy hot tub scenes still makes me cringe a bit whenever i see them)Eye Candy: Bobbi Pavis, Jeana Loring, Barbara Horan, & about 8 or 9 extras fleetingly get topless; one extra shows her assMy Grade: C+

LOng before he would make a name for himself in films like "The Great Hereafter"."Double Jeopardy" and "Thirteen Days",handsome Canadian actor Bruce Greenwood was in this perpetual boner on celluloid. He plays the easygoing,beer-guzzling beach bum who co-owns the titular shop with his upright,uptight brother(Michael David Wright,anyone know where he went?)after their dear Aunt passes on,leaving the store to them in her will(likely? You betcha!). Of course,nearly everybody in this film is a nobody(Save for long-running lounge and TV variety act impresario Charlie Brill,in a bit part),and the film is entirely motorized on the presence of sexy,scantily clad women who may or may not be taking' it all off over the course of the film. THink "HArdbodies" with a slightly less misogynistic tone. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit when I was a teen(take a wild guess as to why),and while I probably haven't had a look at this film since the early nineties,I saw it enough times that I can practically count all the scenes of nudity(and recall them in loving slow-mo!)that occurred and which ones I liked the best(a scene involving a two-way mirror and a proportionately perfect,LAnders-sister-looking model was my favorite). i would say that if you've rarely if ever seen naked women before,or are under the age of eighteen,you'll enjoy this film immensely. To anyone else--and assuming you'd have the patience to sit through this!--I'd say,understand that this whole film is a device and accept it for what it is: a pure,brainless '80s sex movie featuring an up-and-coming actor who'd probably like to forget he'd ever agreed to do it. Well,Bruce,just repeat to yourself:it was experience and I needed the money.