The most 90s sports movie that came out in 2002

Rating: 6/10 (21 January 2019)

Note: I streamed Blue Crush from Netflix in the USA on a laptop. Recommend you watch on a bigger stream.
Nearly fifteen years after its release, Blue Crush is a time capsule of the end of the nineties before the aughts had an identity. The film follows a group of young women who live together without parents surfing the waves between shifts at a hotel where they work. The film teases us with the revelation that Chadwick's mother left her to live with a man she met. Chadwick's little sister shows these same traits and Chadwick herself meets a hunky football player who just can't help himself with her. Many plot threads such as this remain underdeveloped like the adolescents living in the film's world. "Blue Crush" is ultimately a film about young people having a good time and living their lives. "You were always so good," and "go find your own dream," aren't just cheapshots between Chadwick and her friends. The young actors are real people in this world. We have been dropped into this narrative, and the unexplored plot lines are the segments we can't see.
That isn't to excuse all of the film's narrative choices. This is still a sports movie and Chadwick has to win the surfing competition, or at least place. She does of course. We see her and many other people surfing and we never get a sense as to how she was good enough to be invited to the competition. Maybe because she's hot and white, I guess? There's some cheap drama with the football player boyfriend who buys a dress for Chadwick to wear that's a bit too sexy. Chadwick is a rich boy's plaything. This revelation builds up to the surfing competition and the film's didacticism: women should follow their own dreams and not rely upon a man as a shortcut to comfort. Your friends will help you. During the surfing competition, Chadwick's competitor even helps her overcome anxiety to catch a wave.
In between the plot we see many surfing segments and Hawaiian beach fun. The director exhausts the natural beauty of these shots by repeating the same technique of presenting the waves each time. The camera pans behind the character, then underwater, then in front of them. Some effort is made to vary the underwater shot but the pattern is evident.
"Blue Crush" is better than a film of its plot summary should be. It also has many elements that tie it to the late 90's. Recommended ON A BIG SCREEN!