Blue Crush (**)
review by Jon Waterman

Anne Marie strives has been accepted in the big surfing competition that will take place in a couple short weeks.  The only problem is, she’s too afraid to tackle those big waves.  Her near-drowning from a previous competition has taken her self-efficacy hostage, so she chokes.  To make matters worse, here comes a pro football player guy to detract from her training and possibly tear her friendships apart.  What is a girl to do?
 
Girl empowering, this movie is not.  The guy that Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) just met, quarterback Matt (Matthew Davis) essentially has all the control over her life.  He gets her to stop practicing to spend time with him and give him “lessons.”  He gets her to start up again when he sees the emotional distress she’s in.  Any words of encouragement that she follows in the film come from him.  This means that the best friends are really only in the movie to provide a little predictable conflict and to show off more skin.  The bodies belong to Michelle Rodriguez and Sanoe Lake.  Anne Marie does have a sister, Penny (Mika Boorem).  This character has a purpose <Sarcasm>.  Since their mother abandoned the two girls, A.M. has to look after Penny who doesn’t want to be treated like a child now that she’s the ripe old age of fourteen.  She’d rather be out partying with the big kids and doing whatever she wants.  Anne Marie has to try to stop this along with get her best friend back and train and keep everything good with Matt.  Note that none of this actually matters and does nothing to really further the main narrative of the competition or the main character’s development.
 
The only thing that truly held my attention to this film was the cinematography.  David Hennings shot this beautiful film.  The locations are stunning and the underwater work will suck you in.  The vibrant shades of blue water crashing across the frame immerse you in the surfing scenes.  This is why I don’t care about the subplot stuff.  I wanted to see more surfing action.  An added bonus is that it all cut together so well with minimal continuity mistakes (thanks to Director John Stockwell for knowing what coverage he wanted and to Emma E. Hickox for putting it together seamlessly).  Another reason I enjoyed the surfing so much, was that minimal acting was required.
 
Run of the mill, phoned in work all around.  Not a stand-out in the bunch.  That’s not true.  Some were especially bad.  The ex-boyfriend Drew (played by Chris Taloa) must have had cue cards in front of him and a reading problem to act like he does.  And the only thing that could detract from the excitement of the surfing was the contest announcer (Sonny Miller) who’s flat, dry, unenthusiastic reading took me out of it.
 
Despite everything I’ve said, teenage girls will probably really enjoy it.  That’s a good thing, because it was made for them.  If anyone outside of that demographic wants to see it, fast-forward to the surfing and hit the mute button.

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