When I saw the shorts for Blue Crush (M) I thought it looked nothing more than an excuse to get a few girls into bikinis.

Rating: Null/10 (1 December 2002)

But the film, which begins its run at the Regent Theatre in Te Awamutu today, turned out to be far more than that. Set on the Hawaiin coast Blue Crush, directed by John Stockwell, tells the story of Anne Marie Chadwick (Kate Bosworth) a dedicated surfer who falls for Matt Tollman (Matthew Davis) a professional American football player in the days leading up to a huge surfing competition. But her flatmates Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake) have different ideas as they play surrogate mother to Anne Marie's younger sister Penny (Mika Boorem). There's plenty of action, with huge crashing waves, as Anne Marie abandons her training to teach Matt to surf. But is it just a holiday romance? Will she be too distracted to make the competition? Ultimately the film is about overcoming your fears. Anne Marie fears a major surfing accident and is cautious beyond measure when it comes to riding the waves. Later, she develops a fear that Mat might just be using her for a holiday romance. Blue Crush is the ultimate surfie movie and bound to be a huge hit in New Zealand this summer.