Blue Crush: exactly what you're expecting

The pitch: a story about girls (who wear bikinis throughout nearly the entire movie) empowering themselves by surfing.

The story: Anne Marie, played by relative unknown Kate Bosworth, is about to realize her lifelong dream by competing in the Pipe Masters surf competition -- if she can overcome her fear from a near-drowning several years before.

All goes well until Anne Marie takes on vacationing pro-football quarterback Matt (Matthew Davis, Legally Blonde) as a surfing student for some extra cash. Matt (who has a remarkably poor physique for a pro quarterback) and Anne Marie quickly stir up some romance, which distracts her from the upcoming surfing competition, much to the chagrin of Anne Marie's roommates (Michelle Rodriguez, Girlfight and newcomer Sanoe Lake).

The film plays out like a cross between the always-vapid MTV program The Shore Thing and one of ski-movie guru Warren Miller's flicks.

Scenes reminiscent of Baywatch music videos and the one lukewarm fight scene are beyond cliche and leave the viewer squirming in awkward embarrassment. Not that director John Stockwell doesn't have his shining moments. The cheesier aspects of the film are offset by inventive shots of surfers from underneath the ocean and impressive work on wipeout shots. Some submarine cinematography actually gives the water more of a personality than the leading man. In short, Blue Crush does for water what Backdraft did for fire. Random and mediocre CG effects, on the other hand, should have been seriously reconsidered -- they only detract from the sequence of a surfer emerging from a steep curl.

Though the storyline may be lackluster, Bosworth redeems the script as best as she can, a daunting challenge considering she plays much of her part against a brick wall-like Davis.

The final scenes of the movie, with the exception of some bad CG effects and cheesy interaction between Anne Marie and Matt, are well filmed and offer a few cameos from some real female big-wave surfers. In the end, Blue Crush delivers exactly what the previews offered -- lots of eye-popping surfing cinematography and a plot as deep as a wading pool.