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Blue Crush
Blue Crush êêê PG-13
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Reviewed By David Spielman
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Anne Marie: Kate Bosworth
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Leslie: Faizon Love
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Eden: Michelle Rodriguez
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Matt: Matthew Davis
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Lena: Sanoe Lake
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Penny: Mika Boorem
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Bottom Line
Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) is an amazing surfer, enjoying her life on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii with her two best friends Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake), and her rebellious younger sister Penny (Mika Boorem). She has been invited to the Pipe Masters surfing competition, a very dangerous competition and she finds conflict in balancing a new love interest, Matt (Matthew Davis), with practicing for the big event.
Story Line
The movie begins with a flashback of the main character, Anne Marie, being seriously injured while surfing a few years earlier. Cut to the present. Anne Marie's mother has fled to Las Vegas and left Anne Marie in charge of her younger sister and the house, a week before the biggest event of Anne Marie's life, the Pipe Masters surfing competition.
Along with training, Anne Marie must balance a few other things in her life. One of her best friends, Eden, wants her to practice everyday because she knows Anne Marie has amazing potential. Her little sister
Penny is partying with a much older crowd and Anne Marie has just been fired from her housekeeping job at Oahu's nicest resort. To make matters even more complex, Anne Marie begins seeing the NFL quarterback Matt, who she is giving surfing lessons to while he is staying at the resort with the rest of his team on a week's vacation. Can Anne Marie balance her social life and her training without anyone being disappointed?
Tell Me More
Blue Crush is a very entertaining movie. To begin with, there is a great cast. Kate Bosworth as Anne Marie is a fantastic choice. At times she is so serious in her surfing and a minute later she is smiling with her friends and the NFL football team. Michelle Rodriguez plays her role well (She seems to have made her way into commercial films since she debuted in Girlfight). Lena, the third friend, is well played by Sanoe Lake. There is also the "Nice Guy" love interest for Anne Marie, Matt; a great role for Matthew Davis (remember the jerk ex-boyfriend from Legally Blonde?). Yet the real gem in the film is found in the supporting cast. Faizon Love as Leslie, a very heavy NFL player with some nasty habits, is the work of a comic genius. His scenes are the best in the film, because his hilarious dialogue combined with great comic timing and a fantastic onscreen presence makes him my favorite character in the film. I wish he had more screen time, but hey, maybe they will have a sequel with him in the starring role (sigh!).
The innovative camerawork in the surfing scenes is excellent. When the main characters are surfing (which is at least a third of the film), the camera moves upside down to overhead to underwater to capture the experience of what it is like to actually surf. There may have been some digital help in those scenes, but that doesn't detract a huge amount from them. The tournament itself is probably the most exciting.
Another great feature of the film is the setting. Beautiful Hawaii, photographed magnificently, as it captures the essence of what it is like to live on an island where surfing is the way of life.
The movie is of course all cliché and predictable, but it is actually quite refreshing to take a break from all the explosions and gunfire and just watch, for the most part, a non violent film with good humor, a cute little romance, and just a high entertaining factor overall. This is a plain and simple kickback movie to enjoy around the end of the summer with your friends, and just have a good time. When the movie was over I just wanted to surf! See this movie if you want something you can just tune your brain off for an hour and half to and relax. Surf's up!
Rating PG-13 (some sex ;a fist fight; brief language)
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David Spielman © 2002
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Mini Filmography
Kate Bosworth: The Horse Whisperer
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Faizon Love: The Replacements
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Michelle Rodriguez: The Fast and the Furious
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Director: John Stockwell - Crazy/Beautiful
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Sanoe Lake: Debut film
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Matthew Davis: Legally Blonde
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Mika Boorem: The Patriot
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