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Universal's 'Blue Crush' Hardly a Wipe-Out

© Heather Wadowski

Three and a Half Stars out of Five

Universal Pictures' "Blue Crush" could have been a huge disaster. Rather than being a female empowerment movie about extreme sports and following your dreams, Lizzy West and John Stockwell's adaptation of Susan Orlean's "Surf Girls of Maui" article could have just been a sorry excuse to see three attractive women prance around in bikinis for 104 minutes. Luckily, a talented cast of up and coming actresses and some amazing surf sequences will keep viewers' eyes on the screen for a reason other than the excessive flesh-- though one can't deny that's enough eye-candy in itself.

"Blue Crush" focuses on Anne Marie, a young, attractive woman who gave up on a college education after falling in love with the big, blue waves of Maui. However, her love for surfing is stifled a bit when a vicious encounter with a wave causes her head to smash against the reef and leaves her almost for dead. Now afraid to take the plunge, Anne Marie is encouraged by her two best friends (Michelle Rodriguez and Sanoe Lake) to conquer her fear of surfing pipe by entering the Rip Masters surf competition-- a competition that could also land her an endorsement deal which would get the trio out of the run-down beach shack they live in. But when a vacationing football star (Matthew Sweet) walks into her life, Anne Marie is torn between living her dream and facing the challenges that come with pursuing it, or living the fairy-tale life the pro quarterback could offer her with no struggles attached.

Granted "Blue Crush"'s storyline is anything but deep and its ending is far from being a surprise (after all, the football stud is just vacationing in Maui-- he doesn't live there), but like most action films, "Blue Crush"'s plot doesn't have to be thick for it to be a ride worth taking. Filled with great surfing sequences and real-life footage of surfer injuries, "Blue Crush" truly captures the surfing life in all its gore and glory. Director John Stockwell manages to bring the beach to the viewer, in part because he filmed the movie without ever making the locals leave the waves. His interaction with real life surfers-- including some of the top women surfers in the business-- shows on-screen, and helps make "Blue Crush" seem like more than just a teeny-bopper chick flick that will draw in the 15-and-under male crowd simply because of the cast's wardrobe.