Fluffy entertainment, no more and no less.

Rating: Null/10 (24 April 2003)

** out of ****
Maybe it was just the fact I was in the mood for something lightweight and melodramatic, but I found myself oddly entertained by Blue Crush. That's not to say I give it a strong or even cautious recommendation. Hell, I'm not quite sure what to say, except that I found the cliched story mildly enjoyable and lead actress Kate Bosworth both quite pretty and talented.
Bosworth stars as Anne Marie, a hotel maid in Hawaii who lives with her two friends (Michelle Rodriguez and someone I don't recognize) and her younger sister, Penny (Mika Boorem). In their spare time, she and her friends surf, particularly as practice for the upcoming "big" competition that you know is going to pad out the lengthy conclusion. Anyway, complications arise when Anne Marie finds herself falling for a handsome pro football player (Matthew Davis) who's arrived for the pro bowl. Which will she place above all else, her newfound boyfriend or the big surfing competition?
As far as lightweight entertainment goes, Blue Crush delivers just enough that you won't feel you've completely wasted almost two hours of your life. This is thanks mostly in part to Bosworth's performance, she's sympathetic and likeable, showing hints of a promising career. Then there's Matthew Davis, who's shown he can deliver a good performance (Below, for instance) and is okay as the pro quarterback, but more importantly, he and Bosworth actually have some decent chemistry together.
Most people consider the movie's anchor to be the surfing sequences. Aside from a scene of horrible CGI, these setpieces are lovely to look at and shot quite well, but they are repetitive, and by the final competition, it just drags uncomfortably. Amidst the story are the typical cliches, including a scene in a bathroom stall that you just know right from the get-go how it's going to pan out.
Aside From Bosworth and Davis, the rest of the cast is serviceable at best. Michelle Rodriguez continues her "angry chick" acting and she's not very good at it, either. Mika Boorem is a talented young actress, but there's nothing here to stretch her acting chops. It's easy to see how Blue Crush became a minor box office hit. The "girl power" story draws in the scores of teenage girls and the tantalizing promise of girls in bikinis will have the guys salivating.
All this comes at the expense of the portrayal of the men in the story, who are almost exclusively seen as hot-headed, rash, and uncleanly. Only Davis shows some honorable qualities but even he is revealed to be a bit of a wild guy. Still, complain as I might, Blue Crush did entertain me for most of its running time, and I guess that counts for something. As Saturday night rental fare, this is a movie that should go down fairly easily.