1/2 awesome film

Rating: 6/10 (14 March 2009)

There are two movies here, and only one of them is really worth seeing.
The first one is a predictable "overcoming your fears" story, which, as usual, focuses on the least interesting but most WASP-y character. Nothing to offensive there except how dull she was. Why didn't they focus on Sanoe Lake's character, who was WAY less insipid? The second movie was a about water. And waves. And figuring out how to convince them to let you ride them without dying. Whoever filmed the water sequences should go to heaven on this film alone- it's beautiful and terrifying. I was on the edge of my seat with every wave. Perfect.
I'm a super n00b surfer and learned at a women-friendly break. I didn't realize how unusual that was. My favorite part of the "above water" part of this movie is when Kennelly coaches and cheer leads her competitor onto a perfect wave. When I've surfed with women it's really like that. When I finally caught a wave, every women there cheered.
It was great to see this camaraderie in a film.
And to anyone worrying about this film being nothing but titillation, it isn't. Yes, they're in bikinis. If you've been to Hawaii you know that's what people wear on the beach, even people you might wish didn't. There was nothing salacious, even when they could have gotten away with it in the plot. (Think of all the wet bikini shots they missed by having Bosworth wear a rash guard!) It was a very modest film. The T&A emphasis the previous reviewers remarked upon came from their brains, and not from the film.