Blue Crush
Blue Crush looks like a boobs-and-surfboards movie — not that there’s anything wrong with that. But this one has something extra. For starters, the source material is a smart Outside magazine article, “Surf Girls of Maui,” by Susan Orlean. And director John Stockwell and co-screenwriter Lizzy Weiss have adapted that article without leaving all the smarts out. Sure, the plot is basic: Can Anne Marie (the beauteous Kate Bosworth) overcome her fears of crushing her head on blue coral and take on the big boys at Hawaii’s Pipe Masters surf competition? Will her surfer friends, Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake), hate her if she marries a rich football hero (Matthew Davis) and gives up her dream?p>tockwell shows the grit of the women’s jobs as hotel maids (toilets, vomit and used condoms all get their moment) and what it takes for a woman to succeed in this brutal sport. The surfer subculture seeps into the film and anchors the performances. Bosworth is a star in the making, but even she can’t outshine the surfing footage, which is flat-out spectacular. For the killer waves, stunt doubles step in (one of Bosworth’s is a man). But what you’re seeing is the thrilling work of camera operators who rode into the crush on boogie boards. To quote Vin Diesel, “I live for this shit.”