Watchable.

Rating: 5/10 (5 April 2003)

**Warning! Mild Spoilers Ahead!**
"Blue Crush" takes the sports movie formula, throws in a cup of romance and a dash of family strife, and cooks up a movie that is watchable, but not really that good.
The basic problem is that virtually nothing in the story is original. While some sports movies can get away with that due to compelling characters or powerful performances (like "Rocky", of which this movie is reminiscent), "Blue Crush" is not one of those. The characters and plot lines are cliche, and the actors, who don't have much to work with, are simply servicable.

When the movie is on dry land, it plods. None of the ashore scenes are very interesting; they merely fill time between surf sequences, for which I found myself impatiently waiting, without enhancing the driving storyline.
The visually arresting surfing scenes are indisputably the highlights of "Blue Crush." Director John Stockwell put cameras just about everywhere in, around, and under the water. Those innovative shots provide the best visuals of the movie, expertly and vividly portraying a you-are-there sensation of surfing. The surf culture was explained well too, from the local thoughts of tourists to the comaraderie of the competitors. The only problem with the surf scenes was that they sometimes felt pieced together (and they probably were), particularly during the announcer's voice-overs at the final contest.
Bottom Line: "Blue Crush" is the essence of a guilty pleasure movie. Great photography, enjoyable surfing scenes, and girls in bikinis. But the story makes half the movie drag. 5 of 10.