If, like me, you haven't spent the bulk of your life hanging around sun-kissed beaches, catching waves with your buddies and saying “you know what?” before every sentence, chances are you'll find “Blue Crush” a little difficult to relate to. You may even find yourself muttering “what the Hell are these people going on about?” under your breath from time to time. But, credit where it's due, this lightweight piece of eye candy is surprisingly well-directed and brilliantly filmed.
The plot ain't exactly the most complicated in the world. Freckle-faced bikini babe Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) is a surfer. And a pretty darn good surfer, come to mention it. She's been invited to take part in the prestigious “Pipeline Masters” tournament only she's getting cold feet thanks to recurring flashbacks of a near-death experience from a few years back. She's also finding herself a little distracted from her training by visiting NFL quarter-back Matt (Matthew Davis), who it's safe to assume didn't give up a blossoming career in rocket science in favour of heading down the football path.
It's basically sports-movie-by-numbers, right down to the end-of-film tournament and cringe-worthy final shot of our heroine's noggin on the front page of some surfing magazine. In fact, it's “Karate Kid”, except in the water and with attractive people.
What sets “Blue Crush” apart from the average is the stunning cinematography, with the cameras taking us right under the water, through the rolling waves and up into the sky for some awe-inspiring aerial shots. A bit more concentration on the water-bound action, and a little less on the daft pseudo-romantic subplot, and director John Stockwell might have had a surprisingly memorable movie on his hands here.