Blue Crush

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Blue Crush
Blue Crush Movie Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by John Stockwell
Produced by Brian Grazer
Screenplay by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Story by Lizzy Weiss
Based on The Maui Surfer Girls
1998 Women Outside
by Susan Orlean[1][2]
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Music by Paul Haslinger
Cinematography David Hennings
Edited by Emma E. Hickox
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
 August 16, 2002
Running time
 105 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $25 million
Box office $55 million

Blue Crush is a 2002 sports film directed by John Stockwell and based on Susan Orlean's 1998 Outside magazine article "Life's Swell".[3] It stars Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez, Sanoe Lake and Mika Boorem. The film tells the story of three friends who have one passion: living the ultimate dream of surfing on Hawaii's famed North Shore.

Plot

Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) and her fourteen-year-old sister, Penny (Mika Boorem), along with good friends Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake), live in a small house on the North Shore. They all have been helping raise Penny, since her mother moved to Las Vegas with her boyfriend.

While Penny is at school, Anne Marie, Eden, and Lena work as maids in a super-luxury resort hotel, but more important than that, they are surfers. Anne Marie rises every morning before dawn to train for a possible surfing comeback. As a child, she had been a rising star in women's surfing, until she suffered a near-fatal wipeout. This has temporarily halted her progress; now when she is in really big powerful surf, she has deep-seated fears of dying. Her friends, especially Eden, are encouraging her to try once again to become a professional surfer.

Anne Marie is invited to join the surfing competition at the famed North Shore surf spot, the very challenging Banzai Pipeline. If she can do well enough to gain the attention of a sponsor, it would lift her and her friends out of the near-poverty in which they live. As the Pipeline competition gets closer, Anne Marie struggles to keep her young sister Penny from running wild and tries to deal with her own personal issues.

Anne Marie meets Matt Tollman (Matthew Davis), a National Football League quarterback who is in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl (it is hinted that he plays for the Minnesota Vikings). Matt is instantly attracted to the surfer. After a few encounters, Matt says he wants to learn to surf, and Anne Marie agrees to teach him, and several of his rowdy teammates, to surf for $150 per hour, with Lena, Eden and Penny acting as coaches. When Anne Marie goes to the hotel room to get the money, she sees Matt, but a call comes in. Anne Marie asks if it is Matt's wife, but he explains it is his niece. Later, they sleep together.

Anne Marie's acceptance of an outsider as her boyfriend causes friction between her and some of the young male surfers on the North Shore. Eden points out to Anne Marie that her current interest in Matt has weakened her commitment to training for the Pipeline contest. Anne Marie overhears very demeaning comments about herself from some of the other football players' wives and girlfriends, who are staying at the hotel.

Anne Marie confronts Matt about their situation. She soon resolves to step up her game, as she fully commits herself to the Pipeline Masters. On the day of Pipeline, Anne Marie wipes out during her first heat, but she advances to the next heat after narrowly beating pro surfer Kate Skarratt. She is shaken, but Matt tells her how he failed in his first game as an NFL quarterback, and this helps her get control of her wavering confidence.

Determined, although still apprehensive, Anne Marie returns to the water. Competing in the same heat is Keala Kennelly, one of the first professional female surfers. While Keala surfs the first few sets of waves well, Anne Marie is still reluctant to try one, visions of her near-drowning incident holding her back. Keala finishes her turn, then paddles back out to take Anne Marie under her wing. Keala encourages her to ride the best wave of the day, and Anne Marie rides it perfectly, managing to score a perfect ten. Although Anne Marie cannot advance to the next heat, she has regained her lost confidence and attracted the attention of sponsors, one of whom immediately offers to have her join the Billabong women's surf team.

Cast

Appearances from real-life surfers

Soundtrack

Music from the Motion Picture Blue Crush
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released August 16, 2002
Genre Soundtrack
Length 47:09
Label Virgin Records
Producer Steven Marley, Josh Debear, Moby, Don Great, Pharrell Williams, Lenny Kravitz, Justin Stanley
No. Title Length
1. Untitled (Lenny Kravitz)  
2. "Rock Star (Jason Nevins Remix Edit)""    
3. "Party Hard" (Beenie Man)  
  1. "Cruel Summer (Blestenation Mix)" (5:13) – Blestenation
  2. "Big Love" (3:48) – Chicken Josh Debear (rap/vocals)
  3. "Daybreaker" (3:54) – Beth Orton
  4. "Everybody Got Their Something" (4:22) – Nikka Costa
  5. "Front To Back (Fatboy Slim Remix)" (3:53) – Playgroup
  6. "And Be Loved" (3:02) – Damian Marley
  7. "Destiny" (5:40) – Zero 7
  8. "Firesuite" (4:37) – Doves

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes rated 62% of reviews from 144 critics as positive, with an average rating of 5.80/10. The site's consensus reads, "The surfing sequences are exhilarating, but the plot is pretty forgettable and trite."[4] Metacritic gave the movie a score of 61 based on 33 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[5] On their weekly film recap show, Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper gave the film 3/4 stars.[6]

Box office

The film opened on 3,002 screens in the United States on August 18, 2002. It grossed $14.2 million and placed third on the weekend. It went on to gross $40.4 million in the United States, and a total of $51.8 million worldwide. The film's estimated budget was $25 million.[7] Blue Crush was the first film to use Hawaii's Act 221, a progressive local tax incentive that called for a 100 percent state tax credit for high-tech investments meeting the requirements for qualified high-tech business, while also allowing local investors to receive tax credits for investments in film or television productions.[8][9] Universal Studios used the legislation for the Blue Crush production, receiving approximately $16 million in a deal with local investors who, in exchange, received the film's high-tech tax credits. The agreement also involved marketing rights for the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau whereby the studio would cross-promote the film and the State of Hawaii. Entertainment executive April Masini, who helped produce Baywatch: Hawaii, Pacific Blue, and the Miss Universe Pageant, brought the tax incentives to the attention of Universal Studios,[10] and along with producer Adam Fields advised the state in its negotiation.[8]

Television

In October 2017, NBC was developing a television adaptation of the film.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ "Life's Swell" by Susan Orlean Archived September 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine the article the film is based on
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Box office/business for Blue Crush
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Blue_Crush&oldid=726810357"