Stunning Sand and Surf Highlight Ho-Hum Movie

Rating: Null/10 (5 September 2002)

Ann Marie Chadwick (Kate Bosworth) lives to surf, but surfing is not her life. Growing up, she dreamed to one day become the best surfer in the world, but for now she is stuck in a dead-end job as a hotel maid with her two best friends Eden and Lena (Michelle Rodriguez and Sanoe Lake, both turning in decent performances), and raises her 12-year old sister Penny, her responsibility since her mother ran off to Vegas. Her time on the surfboard is the only time she feels alive.
This movie works much in the same way. The surfing sequences are beautiful, intense and fantastically entertaining to behold. However, many of the sequences between them tend to be lengthy and predictable. While the script is well written (particularly dialogue between the lead characters) there are many times when it begins to feel like an after-school special made by people who have seen one too many episodes of `General Hospital.'
Still, despite all of its faults, the movie almost manages to redeem itself at the climax, an entertaining combination of incredible surfing stunts and breathtaking Hawaiian wave action. That, combined with the charismatic performance of its lead, pull `Blue Crush' halfway out of the shallow end of summer movies.
(**1/2/****)