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Your eyes will love Blue Crush. Your ears will loathe
it.
The reason for this war of the senses is that on a visual
level, the film is breathtaking. It's almost IMAX-ean in the
way it throws you into the middle of towering waves and allows
you to linger there, enabling you to savor the same sort of
adrenaline rush that those surfing the titanic walls of water
experience. The cinematography is beautiful, and so are the
people—in essence, Blue Crush screams summer movie
from its every pore.
This is more than enough to make up for the goofy conversations
that your cinema-sharpened ears will have to endure. No doubt
you've heard the same sort of trite, "go for your dreams"
dialogue about a thousand times before, but don't be foolish
enough to let that stop you from enjoying such a viscerally
electrifying film. Blue Crush doesn't market itself
as anything but a good time, and on that level, it more than
delivers.
Unlike films such as Point Break, which use surfing
as a backdrop in an otherwise overwrought story, Blue Crush
recognizes that surfing is its main story. One has
to wish, though, that director Stockwell and screenwriter
Weiss would have maintained more confidence in the
primary plot.
The film should have been content to follow lead character
Anne Marie (Bosworth) as she trains, and eventually
competes, in the Pipe Masters, a high-profile surfing competition
on the North Shore of Oahu. Instead, Blue Crush falls
victim to various clichés, needlessly peppered throughout
the story. The superfluous plot devices include Anne Marie's
absentee mother and rebellious sister; her combative relationship
with ex-flame Drew; and her newfound romance with a star quarterback
(Davis) who is staying at the luxury hotel where she
works as a maid.
It's understandable that the writers would seek to make the
character more well-rounded, but let's get real. They could
throw a rag doll up on that board for all we'd care, as long
as they show more of those crazy, fear-inspiring waves.
The films also portrays the camaraderie between Anne Marie
and her best friends Eden (Rodriguez) and Lena (Lake,
a Hawaii native, model, and longtime surfer). The two don't
get to flex their surfing muscles too often, instead spending
the majority of the movie assuring Anne Marie that she is
a champion, and warning her against the advances of her football
playing lover.
The roles are pretty thankless, but both actresses do a good
job, especially Rodriguez, who deserves a much bigger part
than that of the supportive best friend. I suppose the important
part is that they look good—in a movie all about eye candy,
they're the perfect kind of wrapper.
All of the film's story threads eventually come together
to form a satisfying, if frustratingly traditional, finale.
The Pipe Masters competition is exciting, and builds well
on the previous surfing scenes. It's likely that Blue Crush
is a film you'll forget about five minutes after you leave
the theater, but in a way, that's sort of appropriate. Like
a great day at the beach, it was fun while it lasted.
—Erin Steele
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While we would never encourage anyone to destroy a video... 
