Blue Crush Review
by John Sylva (DeWyNGaLe AT aol DOT com)August 16th, 2002
BLUE CRUSH (2002)
Reviewed by John Sylva
(C) 2002, TheMovieInsider.com
Anyone who's ever taken a glimpse of competitive surfing on ESPN knows how high-risk the sport is: Determining the right wave to ride on can sometimes be a matter of life and death for subject athletes. Similar stakes are at hand for films that attempt to exploit not only surfing but all sports on the big screen, as, by the one-hour mark in such pictures, redundancy has usually long set in. John Stockwell's Blue Crush, centered on a quartet of Hawaiian surfers who inhabit a culture that will probably seem foreign to the rest of America (although the teenagers with beach-blonde hair and exotic attire attending this screening seemed to think they fit right in), is perhaps an even bigger gamble than others of its ilk from first frame to last because the foundation of the sport at hand is potentially too distant, too unknown for audiences to connect with. The odds must have been in Stockwell's favor though as he successfully expresses both the free-spirited excitement and the nerve-wrecking intensity of surfing here. Due largely in part to stunning, unforgettable cinematography by David Hennings, Stockwell's Blue Crush is eminently watchable however slight. As he did with last year's Crazy/Beautiful, the helmer allows his characters to simply be and the episodes of the plot to smoothly flow with seeming obliviousness to this being a teen-targeted sports film. His professionalism leads one to presume this is a picture with more serious aspirations than being remembered down the road as the "girl-power surfing movie," even though, all in all, this really isn't much more than that.
Blue Crush is, in many ways, a live action companion piece to this summer's animated Lilo & Stitch: Like that Disney gem, the film tells a story of a Hawaii-dwelling young woman named Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) acting as the guardian of her mischievous little sister Penny (Mika Boorem), with the former finding herself juggling duties as the grown up of the family and her hunger for spending time surfing and with friends. The two generally connect only when surfing is involved as the elder has certainly taught the junior a thing or two about the craft of the sport. No bizarre-looking blue creature arrives from outer space to befriend Penny here though as the 14-year-old rather finds her diversion in running away from home and spending time at the local bars, drinking and smoking with the older kids. As the emotional core to the film, their relationship is refreshingly grounded and is almost always a factor in what's happening on-screen. Also developed here are her friendships with house-mates Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and the much less developed Lena (Sanoe Lake), taking a hit when Anne Marie begins overlooking her upcoming pipe competition that could land her a new life in favor of a love interest named Matt (Matthew Davis).
The character of Anne Marie is chancy: Who wants to root for someone who neglects her little sister's ride to school in favor of sleeping in at her boyfriend's hotel while treating herself to blueberry pancakes? While screenwriters Stockwell and Lizzy Weiss, adapting the magazine article "Surf Girls of Maui" by Susan Orlean, should be commended for not glossing over Anne Marie's various flaws, it's Bosworth's performance that prevents the character's becoming unlikable. The actress, while having limited film experience to date (her most widely seen work is in 2000's Remember the Titans), gives a more-than-solid performance that's sure to put her star on an instant rise. In the quiet moments before venturing into the seemingly endless ocean, she features a stare of calculation, of determination that leads the viewer to realize these aren't just waves of giddy enjoyment for Anne Marie but ones of potential fame, fortune, happiness, and, perhaps above all else, opportunity. Her personality is best reflected in one particularly affecting scene in which Anne Marie, dressed up as if walking the red carpet at the Academy Awards, attends a glitzy party with Matt, but, rather than merely enjoying the experience of being treated like royalty for an evening, the character's overwhelming frustration and sadness about her and Penny's situation slowly take her over with her eventual breaking down.
Though the script does earn high marks for its emphasis on surfing over character drama, with the film's never letting more than fifteen minutes pass without a surf sequence, serious problems arise during the less interesting, often melodramatic interruptions. Aside from the smart writing of Anne Marie, Stockwell and Weiss are too often preoccupied with presenting conflicts that will hinder the course of the film's characters. Although, quite thankfully, no rival surfer or equally banal contrivances are present here, after witnessing about the third near-accident, the fourth "I quit" declaration, and the fifth glance from Eden suggesting Anne Marie is throwing her life away for a man she'll never see again, I began to wonder: What's wrong with confining Blue Crush to being free-spirited summer entertainment? Young viewers will find inspiration from the film with or without these dispensable conflicts. Though most of the drama here is written with a light enough touch that groans are never elicited from the viewer, watching the film is a decidedly more engaging experience when Anne Marie & Co. are out doing what they do best. Kudos and more to Stockwell for capturing what are some of the most astonishing surf sequences ever filmed; but, paralleling what the girls of this film might consider their motto for their own lives, why try making this into something it's not? On the plus side, however, can you imagine what this film might have been like if XXX's Rob Cohen had gotten his hands on it? I can almost picture Anne Marie shouting, "I live for this s***!" Emphasis on almost.
GRADE: B-
Film reviewed August 15th, 2002.
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
