Director:
Joel Silverman
Starring:
Harland Williams ………. Rip
Ryan Carnes ………. Tyler
Corey Sevier ………. Jordan
Laura Bell Bundy ………. Doris
Miko Hughes ………. Taz
Lee Norris ………. Larry
Sisqo ………. Mo
Angie Ruiz ………. Mariana
The Movie
Some movies can be proclaimed as being the “worst movie ever made”. Usually they aren’t always as bad as people say they are, though. They even sometimes fall into the “cult classic” category as a result. Surf School is not one of those movies. It really does take a lot of work, or complete lack of effort, to be the “worst movie ever made”.
Surf School is about a rag-tag bunch of high-school seniors. They are complete outsiders at their surf-crazed Laguna Beach High School. One day they decide to crash the biggest team surf contest. In order to prevail, however, they must learn how to surf. What happens from there is completely predictable.
The story does actually have some potential. It’s the classic Cinderella story set in the world of surfing on location in Costa Rica. That’s mostly unique as they are few surf movies out there. Of course, there should be some actual scenes of surfing in a movie about surfing. That’s the first downfall of the movie. We see scenes of the beach and the ocean. We see the students briefly learn how to surf. But other than that, not much. Of course, you do get the final competition at the end of the movie but there really needs to be more surfing in this movie to even attempt to save it.
What really makes this film pretty horrible is the acting. When Harland Williams is the “star” of the movie, you know you are in trouble. He plays a washed-up surfer named Rip. That’s a good character for him, but as usual he overacts the part. Some of his jokes are funny, but once they get repeated over and over again they lose pretty much all of their laughs. Heck, Sisqo a.k.a. “Thong Song” is in this movie! To be fair, the rest of the cast does a decent job of what they are given. The main problem is that they are not given much to work with.
For a movie to drop to the lows of Surf School, it has to do a few things. First, it has to have a extremely predictable storyline. Second, it has to take average to below average actors and give them absolutely nothing to work with. Last, it has to market itself as one movie and then try and become a completely different movie in the end. You have seen Surf School countless times before in different forms, and you have seen this movie done better. If expect very little, including very little surfing, you might be able to sit down long enough to watch Surf School but that’s about it.
The Video:
The video is given in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen color, which is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. The video is pretty good and comparable to other new release DVDs. Nothing too special, but that’s on par with the rest of the movie.
The Audio:
The audio included is available in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound or English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English and Spanish as well. No problems real problems here either. The music and dialogue come out loud and clear.
The Extras:
There are no “official” extras on this DVD. There are some outttakes during the closing credits of the movie. If you can make it that long, there is some funny stuff there. Not that funny, but it might be the only real laughs you will have all movie so try and stick around.
If you like surfing movies, find another movie. This had potential to be at least decent, but a poor scripts and uninspired acting ruin the movie’s chances. That and the almost nonexistent surfing in the movie. This is really not worth your time at all.
