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

Release Year: 2002

Rating: 5.5/10 (15,392 voted)

Critic's Score: 61/100

Director: John Stockwell

Stars: Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez, Matthew Davis

Storyline
Nothing gets between Anne Marie and her board. Living in a beach shack with three roommates including her rebellious younger sister, she is up before dawn every morning to conquer the waves and count the days until the Pipe Masters surf competition. Having transplanted herself to Hawaii with no one's blessing but her own, Anne Marie finds all she needs in the adrenaline-charged surf scene ... until pro quarterback Matt Tollman comes along. Like it or not, Anne Marie starts losing her balance - and finding it - as she falls for Matt.

Writers: Susan Orlean, Lizzy Weiss

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

Taglines: Three Friends, One Passion, No Limits.

Official Website: UIP [Germany] | Universal Pictures [United States] - stills, synopsis |

Release Date: 16 August 2002

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

Box Office Details

Budget: $30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $14,169,455 (USA) (18 August 2002) (3002 Screens)

Gross: $51,599,647 (Worldwide) (3 October 2002)

Runtime: 104 min

Trivia:
The rainbow behind Kate Bosworth at the end of the competition was real. It was almost edited out because it was too cheesy, but since Hawaii really does have frequent rainbows it was left for authenticity.

Goofs:
Continuity: When the girls arrive on the first morning to surf, Anne Marie takes off her shirt while talking to Drew. Her shirt reappears briefly in a shot from behind, and is gone again in the next frontal shot.

Quotes:
Kala: Hey, fluff your bangs up a little bit?

a touch of reality makes this better than expected

Rating:

The best we should reasonably expect from a movie like `Blue Crush' is that we will be treated to some stunning footage of surfers riding the world's greatest waves (along Hawaii's Pipeline, natch) to personal fame and glory. We certainly get that in abundance - but what we have less right to expect, perhaps, is that the film will offer anything else of any real quality. After all, we've been to these kinds of movies before, harking all the way back to those halcyon Bleach Blanket Bingo days when Gidget, Moondoggie and the rest of those addle-brained, teeny-bopper cut-ups aspired to nothing higher than a life of eternal youth spent wallowing in the bleach-white sands of Santa Monica or Malibu. In the case of `Blue Crush,' therefore, I am happy to report that the screenplay - by Lizzy Weiss (based on a magazine article by Susan Orlean) -provides just enough touches of realism to keep this new film both life-sized and interesting. And the majority of the credit goes to the film's protagonist, Anne Marie Chadwick who, much to our surprise, engages our sympathies from first moment to last.

Anne Marie is no bubble-headed, bleached-blond bimbo with nothing on her mind but winning the big Pipeline competition. Although that is, indeed, part of her life's plan, Anne Marie is, also, an intelligent, pragmatic young woman, fully aware of both her strengths and weaknesses and just trying the best she knows how to make her life work for her, the young sister in her charge and the two surf buddy girlfriends she lives and works with. Anne Marie is also riddled with insecurities, as she struggles to overcome the fear instilled in her by a near-fatal accident in that very same spot a few years earlier. Meanwhile, she and her pals work hard trying to eke out a living as maids at a posh hotel, earning just enough money to keep a roof over their heads and pay some of their bills so they will be free to head to the coast at the first sign of prime `Surf's Up' conditions.

The acting in the film is really quite impressive. As Anne Marie, Kate Bosworth lights up the screen with her subtly nuanced, poised and dignified performance. She knows how to use understated facial expressions to convey the thoughts and feelings of the character she is portraying. Equally compelling are Michelle Rodriguez and Sanoe Lake as her fun-loving buddies, Mika Boorem as her little sister, and Matthew Davis as the professional football quarterback who becomes her love interest. Director John Stockwell, to his credit, manages to keep the majority of the scenes intimate in tone and realistic in nature, rarely allowing the narrative to wander into overwrought melodrama or teen-movie farce. Even the obligatory fight scene is kept restrained and believable.

There are occasional weaknesses in the film – a gaggle of snooty football wives and groupies who snub Anne Marie for being too lower class for their tastes are the primary offenders – but, on the whole, `Blue Crush' turns out to be a much better film than its subject matter would ever lead us to expect. That comes as a particularly pleasant and un-looked-for surprise here in the shank of the summer movie going season.

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