This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Surf's Up
Plot Overview
Hawaiian bff surfer girls Anne Marie
Chadwick (Kate Bosworth), Eden (Michelle Rodriguez), and Lena
(Sanoe Lake) rise at the crack of dawn to catch some waves and get Marie's
14-year-old sister Penny (Mika Boorem) off to school before donning their
maid uniforms to clean rooms at the upscale Lanakai resort on O'ahu.
NFL Pro Bowl players
are vacationing there, requiring VIP considerations. Marie has been invited to
compete in the Pipe Masters surf contest requiring intense preparation.
She's queasy from an accident on that same beach some two or three years ago.
When the maids discover
room 215 a god-awful mess even by jock standards—w/puke,
feces, and a used rubber,—Marie tracks down the offending
player Leslie (Faizon Love) on the beach where she schools him on
how to use his cotton-picking hands to dispose of a used condom. He
feels, “I'm on vacation. You don't have to clean your room
when you're on vacation.” The hotel manageress fires her for
treating a high paying guest so.
Marie comes to the notice of
quarterback Matt Tollman (Matthew Davis) who hires her to
teach him to surf. After the second lesson, she is sharing his bed
(“Matt loves to slum”) as the island culture is very
permissive. Her life is becoming increasingly complicated, and
she's in danger of losing her focus on the upcoming trials.
Ideology
How much control over their lives did
these girls have? Author Hanns Heinz Ewers writes:
Faust, the scholar, called a book his own, Lieutenant Bonaparte a sword—and nothing else. Had they possessed these things more than they had been possessed by them? Hadn't they remained, to the end of their days, slaves of the book and the sword: of the thirst for knowledge and power? (50)
Eden and Lena wanted to quit in solidarity with Marie who was fired, but they couldn't, because they all needed the money. When Lena came to Marie's room to do housekeeping, the latter helped her make the bed even though she was no longer a maid. Seems to me they were chained to their cleaning cart. When for appearance sake Marie used the stairs for a separate entrance on her first visit, Matt arriving by elevator had time to straighten out what little clutter there was in his room before she arrived. Matt had five sisters in Minnesota who growing up “would beat me on a regular basis.” They would not have tolerated a messy room, football practice or no football practice. His tidy habits followed him to Hawaii. His “No-neck pig” teammate in 215 had a different background than “GQ Jock.” And Marie was trying her darnedest to avoid the Bonzai pipeline, but the challenge must be met.
(Prov.
22:29) “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall
stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.” Matt was
captured in a media blitz posed cozy with the queen of the surf. Leslie had
his moment in the sun with a hula dancer of the regular sort.
Production Values
“” (2002) was directed by John Stockwell. The screenplay was written by Lizzy Weiss and John Stockwell based on a magazine article “Surf Girls of Hawaii” by Susan Orlean. It stars Kate Bosworth, Matthew Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Sanoe Lake, Mika Boorem, and Faizon Love. Bosworth was in top form portraying a complex character. Rodriguez and Lake as her surfing sisters, Boorem as her sister-german, and Davis as the pro football player all complemented her very well. Kate Skarrett a professional surfer playing herself was a better surfer than an actor.
MPA rated it PG–13 for sexual content, teen partying, language and a fight. It was filmed on the beaches & in the resorts of O'ahu, Hawaii. It wasn't an all out party film but kept objectionable material at the shallow end of the pool. The women looked good but didn't overdo it. The giant wave shots were awesome. Runtime is 1¾ hours.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
The plot is pedestrian, the love scenes distracting, and the beaches wavy. The natives are territorial. They don't even party hardy. But they do plan to the limit strategies to tackle those big waves. More power to them. The luau looked yummy but beyond my means should I ever end up on the islands. It's more a secular retreat than a religious one.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Well done action flick. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Amazing special effects. Video Occasion: Better than watching TV. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Three stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quotation from the Authorized King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Ewers, Hanns Heinz. Rider of the Night. Copyright, 1932, by Hanns Heinz Ewers. New York: The John Day Company. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org