Movie Review: Blue Crush

Blue Crush (2002) 

Directed by John Stockwell 

Written by Lizzy Weiss, John Stockwell 

Starring Kate Bosworth, Michele Rodriguez, Matthew Davis, Sanoe Lake, Mika Boorem 

Release Date August 16th, 2002

Published August 15th, 2002 

I have a bad history with surfing movies. First there were those god awful Frankie and Annette movies my mother made me watch as a kid. UGH. Then there was Point Break, which is an awful movie but at least it's bad in a way that can make you laugh. Then there was the god awful Endless Summer 2. I haven't seen the original Endless Summer but if it's anything like the sequel I should drop to my knees and thank God I've been able to avoid it. 

Now comes Blue Crush, a surfer chick movie that mixes sports movie cliches with lame romantic comedy but still manages to be mildly entertaining.

Kate Bosworth stars as Ann Marie, a maid and former pro surfing competitor. She quit competing after nearly being killed in competition. After 3 years she is ready to compete again thanks to the encouragement of her roommates Eden (Michele Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake). After being fired from her maid job for lecturing guests on their hygene, Ann Marie takes an offer to teach a group of football players how to surf. One of the players is a star Quarterback named Matt (Matthew Davis) who is interested in far more than surfing. Well duh.

Blue Crush is a sports movie and a romantic comedy, thus it is bound by the genre conventions of each and so we are treated to the typical roadblocks of both genres in tiresome repetitive scenes. This is especially apparent in the surfing competition where Ann Marie fails over and over and over. Okay we get it, she's got issues, can she overcome them so I can go now? 

The romance is troubled by the culture clash of the poor maid and the rich football player, and what his true intentions are and what will people think and blah blah blah. The film has not one new twist on these conventional situations. However, the film isn't as bad as it seems. The performances by Bosworth and especially Michele Rodriguez actually surpass the cliches and develop real interesting characters. 

The real stars of Blue Crush though are the cameras which get right in the surf and show off angles not likely seen before. You have to wonder at times just what is real because it seems there is no way a camera could get these shots. If there were any digital effects used, and there probably were, they are seamlessly integrated. On a side note there is more than one scene where a camera is visible in the surf.

Blue Crush has an element of guilty pleasure. Gorgeous girls in tiny bikinis and kick ass surfing scenes, namely. Guilty pleasures aside though, Blue Crush is never more than a mild distraction.