Blue Crush (2002)

"Blue Crush" was not based upon a novel, a short story or a play but upon a non-fiction journalistic article ("Life's Swell" by Susan Orlean). This is not an unprecedented phenomenon- "Saturday Night Fever", for example, was also based upon such an article- but it is nevertheless an unusual one. Non-fiction is a highly important part of the publishing and broadcasting industries, but the same is not true of the cinema. There have been occasional exceptions ("March of the Penguins" being a recent one), but in general film-makers have taken the position that documentaries are something best left to television. So, despite its provenance, the story told in this film is a fictitious one. (As, of course, is the story told in "Saturday Night Fever").The film's surfing sequences have been much praised, and rightly so. Like most Britons I have never tried surfing- weather conditions here are hardly conducive to it- but the exhilarating sequences in this film capture something of the sport's excitement and beauty and go some way towards explaining just why its devotees can get so fanatical about it. You cannot, however, make an entire feature film out of surfing sequences alone. (Well, you probably could, but you would have difficulty getting it shown anywhere except for a few art-house cinemas). So the film-makers had to come up with some sort of storyline to fit around them.What they came up with is a sort of double love story, "girl loves boy" plus "girl loves surfing". The main character, Anne Marie, is a young woman living in Hawaii where she works as a hotel chambermaid. Her great ambition is to be a champion surfer and the film explores the story of how she fares when she enters a prestigious surfing competition, with a subplot about the progress of the relationship between Anne Marie and her boyfriend Matt, a professional footballer whom she meets while he is staying in her hotel.Unfortunately, this plot is banal and uninteresting. It doesn't help that Kate Bosworth, who plays Anne Marie, gives such a poor performance; she mumbles so much that I had difficulty understanding a lot of what she is saying. The rest of the cast are not much better, except perhaps Matthew Davis as Matt; he may not be a great actor, but at least he speaks clearly and distinctly. Yet beneath the bland, feelgood plot there are hints of something deeper and more interesting struggling to get out. We hear of two traumatic events in Anne Marie's past, of how she nearly drowned during a previous competition and as a result abandoned the sport temporarily, and of how she was abandoned by her mother who ran off with a boyfriend. As a result Anne Marie has been forced to care for her younger sister Penny herself, with some help from her friends Eden and Lena. (Don't they have children's services in Hawaii?)The trouble is that we merely hear about these events in retrospect. It might have been if they had actually been shown to us, possibly in flashback, which would have given us a more rounded picture of Anne Marie's personality and the forces which produced it. This would have made for a more interesting film, a story of a woman's triumph over adversity rather than a standard love story against a sporting background. Such a film would probably have needed a more accomplished actress than Bosworth in the main role, but it might have been more rewarding. 5/10. (3/10 for the film itself, with two bonus points for the surf scenes).

The rather cute story of some surfer chick/bums, perpetually broke, living the dream in Hawaii. One of them is a former competitor and champion. But she hit bottom, literally, and can't get on the bike again. So that's the plot. Get her back in competitive women's surfing.She and her two friends work as maids in one of the hotels. She has a younger sister who goes to a local school, and generally acts up. But she's a cutie, too. They all are, basically. So it's around February, and the NFL Pro Bowlers come to town. There's the QB and his lineman, presumably from his own team. The QB sort of looks the part, because QBs generally are not that built. They're not all Terry Bradshaw. And the offensive lineman sometimes can have a belly and still be all-Pro - think Larry Allen. So I found the casting just barely believable in that. And she and the QB sort of hit it off. And eventually she offers, with the help of her friends, to teach them how to surf.It's a comic scene after scene as they learn to surf. But the point is to make the payoff. She goes to his hotel room, and he practically propositions her with a wad of bills. But she takes it home, pays the rent, etc, and we're on to the competition. Of course, she starts having sex with the QB, too. But it's for love, not the money. Certainly not any suggestion of actual marriage.The heart of the story is the competition. She has to get over her fear. She has to brave a number of waves. And of course - she wins in the end, gets the sponsorship deals, etc. That is success.The film really, that is, didn't have much of a story to tell. The story really was surfing itself, a sort of lifestyle, and that people would devote time to this, and to the competitions. The Pro Bowl backstory, while providing the 'love interest' only served to show their interest in this thing called - surfing.Despite surfers complaining that it wasn't just one big wave ride after another in this film, the film, nonetheless, is all about surfing - because it really is not about anything else. It's light-hearted. The actresses are almost always smiling, which is attractive. It's just a film with a lot of cute scenes, and at least one 'gross-out' scene. And when they do hit the water, there are some clever following shots right into the water showing the 'washing machine' that grabs the surfers who fall.I suppose the actresses have other commitments. I suppose Rodriquez will be about done with, Lost (which looks on the verge of getting cancelled). And I'm sure many would wonder, even though 'Penny' is now much older and very different, if the three other actresses are looking to reprise a Blue Crush II?

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 one of those films that you tend to like without any apparent reason. "Blue Crush" is a quite flawed film, in fact. The story is too simplified. I wish there could be a little tension between the three girls in some places. The occasional bits of humor are not that clever. The ending could be more dramatic.What I liked about the film is its smart no-nonsense screenplay and the characters. Anne Marie is a brilliantly written character with so many aspects of quality and natural shortcomings... and Kate Bosworth captured her image quite effectively. All the girls are nicely shown in a cool, stylish yet somehow very non-sexual simple manner... and they were portrayed by very capable actresses.And of course the surf scenes are extremely well shot. The film didn't open in theatres in my country and now I regret that fact. All those huge waves, and those sunny beaches, and the surfers and the music... I wished I could be a part of that scenario. That's one of the reasons why the film left a lasting impression in my mind.