An OK Movie -- and A Modest Proposal for the Sequel

Rating: 10/10 (30 October 2002)

(**Note -- contains spoilers***) `Blue Crush' was an enjoyable movie about surfing and about following your dream. It had great surfing scenes, a good cast, good photography, and a good story line.
The film follows Anne-Marie Chadwick (Kate Bosworth) on her quest to win a surfing championship in her home state of Hawaii. From the beginning you see that Anne-Marie has the right stuff to be a champion. She rises at dawn to run and practice surfing and stays focused on the contest as best as she can. Unfortunately, life has thrown some obstacles into Anne-Marie's life. Abandoned by her parents, she must work as a low-paid hotel maid in the highest cost of living state. And at the same time she is trying to raise her younger sister. The bogeyman haunting Anne-Marie is the surfing accident which nearly killed her three years earlier, of which we see several flashbacks.
Suddenly, in the last week before the competition, she meets and falls in love with Matt Tolman, the handsome, charming Detroit Lions Quarterback. Confused on the eve of her great quest, Matt, Lena, and Eden convince Anne-Marie to go for it.
I really think the cast was great, just hampered by a poor script. Kate Bosworth will go on to many more roles. I also enjoyed the performances of Sanoe Lake as Lena, Michelle Rodriguez and Eden, and Matthew Davis as Matt Tolman, and of course Faizon Love as Leslie, who zings the few comic lines in the film.
It was not a box office smash, but could `Blue Crush 2' be far behind? What could they do to improve it? Here's a modest proposal... Anne-Marie and Matt pursue their athletic careers and their romance, and decide to get married during the off-season. When Matt takes Anne-Marie back to Minnesota, she gets more than she bargained for. With only one sister, she is suddenly brought into the world of the extended Tolman family. Matt's father, Linus Tolman (played by Garrison Keillor) a successful Norwegian immigrant and president of Nordic Sports, finds a saying in Norwegian for every occasion, and dispenses Windex for any ailment. Matt's Mother, his five sisters, their husbands and children, plus 25 first cousins provide quite a culture shock Anne-Marie adopts her new family, and introduces surfing to Lake Superior. It could be called `My Big Blue Norwegian Wedding.' Hey, just a suggestion!