Decent flick with sweet tunes, bro

Rating: 6/10 (5 June 2005)

"Lords of Dogtown" was much better than I expected. Sure, it's a little corny in a few places and there are clichÃ©s galore, but anyone expecting "Citizen Kane" probably should have known not to bother with this one anyway. For those who don't know, this film chronicles the rise of the legendary Zephyr skate team (Z-boys), a ragtag band of goofy, rebellious, but still likable kids who turn the skateboarding world on its head through their innovative new tricks, and by being the first to skate in empty pools. It's always seemed to me that someone else had probably come up with that idea already, but these guys were just the first ones to take credit for it. Whatever. It's funny how Stacy Peralta, who wrote this script, is the only person in the film who remains squeaky-clean and likable the entire time, and never develops any kind of ego or attitude problem. The soundtrack, which features the likes of David Bowie, T. Rex, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and other sweet 70's longhair rock, is fantastic. Too bad the best songs in the film (two Stooges songs and one by Funkadelic) aren't actually on the soundtrack CD. The only negative regarding the music is when some lame modern-day punk band actually appears in the film butchering "Nervous Breakdown", the best song by one of the punkest bands ever (that'd be Black Flag, for all you kids who aren't in the know). Still, I'd advise the younger kids of today to pick up the soundtrack. It would be really great if instead of looking like homeboys and listening sissy-ass boy bands posing as "punk rock" singing whiny songs about girls, kids today started growing their hair long, smoking tons of dope, and listening to Sabbath. Anyway, I'll end this awful review by recommending this film to anyone interested in skateboarding or pop culture history, and to kids with awful taste in music who need to be steered right. Not amazing, but I have seen much worse. This one's about a 6.