Blue Crush (2002)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

John Stockwell

Writers (WGA):

Susan Orlean (magazine article "Surf Girls of Maui")
Lizzy Weiss (story)

Release Date:

16 August 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

If you want to feel the rush you have to take the risk.

Plot:

As a hard-core surfer girl prepares for a big competition, she finds herself falling for a football player.

Plot Keywords:

Beach | Surfer | Wave | Surfer Girl | Hawaii

Awards:

1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Kate Bosworth	...	Anne Marie Chadwick
Matthew Davis	...	Matt Tollman
Michelle Rodriguez	...	Eden
Sanoe Lake	...	Lena
Mika Boorem	...	Penny Chadwick
Chris Taloa	...	Drew
Kala Alexander	...	Kala
Ruben Tejada	...	JJ
Kaupena Miranda	...	Kaupena
Asa Aquino	...	Asa
Faizon Love	...	Leslie
Fiji	...	Fiji (as George Veikoso)
Shaun Robinson	...	Omar
Paul Hatter	...	Paul
Tamayo Perry	...	Tamayo

Also Known As:

Blue Crush (Germany)
Surf Girls (USA) (working title)
Surf Girls of Maui (USA) (working title)
Untitled Surf Project (USA) (working title)
Olas salvajes (Mexico) (Peru) [es]
A Onda dos Sonhos (Brazil) [pt]
Blue Crush (Greece) (TV title) [el]
Blue crush - merten valtiaat (Finland) [fi]
Blue crush: Olas salvajes (Argentina) (video title) [es]
Défi bleu (Canada: French title) [fr]
En el filo de las olas (Spain) [es]
Sorsdöntõ nyár (Hungary) [hu]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, teen partying, language and a fight.

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (DVD rating) | Australia:PG (VHS rating) | Brazil:12 | Canada:PG | Germany:6 | New Zealand:PG | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Taiwan:PG-12 | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39064) | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Hawaii Film Studio - 18th Avenue & Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company:

Imagine Entertainment

Trivia:

The original release date for the film was July 12th, 2002.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Obvious body double when Anne Marie is doing chin-ups.

Quotes:

Eden: There's like a thousand dollars in here. I feel like your pimp!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Getaway: Golden Getaway: Getaway Goes to the Movies (#16.13)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Feel Good

It's Not Tubular

From the thoroughly mediocre school of filmmaking, here comes director John Stockwell's 'Blue Crush'. Its graduates...uh, actors include Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez, and a bunch of other pretty people you've never heard of. Bosworth is Anne Marie, the super-talented surfer with a confidence problem. Before the movie is half over, she's in love with a pro quarterback and struggling to gumption up for the big all-girls surf championship. It's your standard 1980's Tom Cruise picture.

If a movie with such modest ambitions is supposed to make you want to go out and take up surfing, I say, hand me my 'Point Break' DVD instead. Sure, 'Blue Crush' is professionally made and the camerawork is fine, but how hard is it to pretty up shots of the Hawaiian ocean when it's in the form of gorgeous, humungoid waves? That's a natural beauty that speaks for itself and doesn't need Hollywood to flaunt it. As for the screenplay by Lizzy Weiss & Stockwell, well, they're proficient with the surfing lingo. They're also absentminded enough to bury their various hanging plot threads in an undertow. The flick is not trying to be a deep meditation on the entire wave-lovin' experience, but that's no excuse for staggering along with such a sub-par story.

As unremarkable as they may be, the female leads are about the best thing in the film. They all look smart in bathing suits---the words "woo hoo" come to mind---and they're fairly natural. Plus, these likable babes don't grate with too many, "you go, girl" comments. Rodriguez even smiled once or twice, which confirms that she DOES have more facial expressions than just snarling and pouting. But despite the physical beauty of the waves and the girls, the film they're in is generic goop. Parents will be happy that all the sex is kiss-kiss-fadeout, there's nary a drug, and only a handful of cuss words. All the same, I'm certainly not happy with the content of 'Blue Crush'. It's just not tubular, dude.