BLUE CRUSH —** 1/2 — Kate Bosworth, Matthew Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Sanoe Lake. Mika Boorem, Faizon Love, Chris Taloa; rated PG-13 (violence, vulgarity, profanity, brief sex, brief gore, brief partial nudity); see the "On the Screen" column for complete listing of local theaters.Saying that "Blue Crush" is the best surfing movie to come around in quite some time isn't really a gushing compliment. Let's face it, the genre that hasn't really produced the brightest gems that cinema has to offer. (Aside from the "Endless Summer" documentaries, feature films on the subject have been silly fluff at best.)
Still, seeing how lame the trailers were for "Blue Crush," the film itself is something of a surprise. It's watchable, and not just for the surfing action.
Not that it's any great shakes, mind you — the ludicrous plotting is only step or two above "Coyote Ugly." But the film is handsomely photographed, and it may herald the rise of a new star, Kate Bosworth.
Bosworth stars as Anne Marie Chadwick, a surfer who lives in ramshackle house near the north shore of Oahu with her best friends Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake). Anne Marie's once-promising amateur-surfing career fell apart after she nearly drowned during a competition, and now she's trying to regain her courage while caring for her rebellious younger sister, Penny (Mika Boorem).
At the same time, she's also starting a romance with Matt Tollman, a professional football player on vacation in Oahu (played by Matthew Davis, from "Legally Blonde").
But as her attraction to Matt grows, she seems to be losing her competitive fire. And with a big competition coming up, Anne Marie finds she has to make up her mind about her future.
The real star of "Blue Crush" is cinematographer David Hennings and his camera crew, who capture Oahu's natural beauty in scenes of surf action that actually put the viewer right there. Which isn't really meant as a slight to co-screenwriter/director John Stockwell, who again proves himself to be a competent genre filmmaker — witness what he did with this material and last year's "crazy/beautiful."
And as he did with Kirsten Dunst in the latter film, Stockwell gives Bosworth a vehicle where she can shine — and her million-dollar smile and natural presence indicate big things may be just around the corner. (Still, it would be nice to figure out just how Stockwell managed to use professional surfer Lake in his movie but managed to give her so few surfing scenes.)
"Blue Crush" is rated PG-13 for sports-related violence, as well as a brief brawl, crude humor and references to sexual and bodily functions, scattered use of profanity, brief sexual contact, brief gore and brief partial female nudity. Running time: 104 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com