Each year the International High School Surfing Championships are held on the quirkiest beach in Costa Rica. The announcer is a flamboyantly gay man who makes sexual comments about every male surfer.
Welcome to "Surf School," a dumb indie comedy that serves up various sex antics copied from copies of "American Pie." Each surfer comes equipped with a stale backstory and a cookie-cutter problem that must be solved within 88 minutes.
The only two teams in competition are the defending champs, the Laguna Beach "A" squad, and a bunch of nonsurfing scrubs dubbed the Laguna Beach "B" squad. It occurs to no one that the two Laguna Beach squads could have settled their dispute in, I dunno, Laguna Beach. Apparently, no other teams are around because they've never heard of the International High School Surfing Championships, which is understandable since they don't exist.
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It doesn't make much sense to nitpick on a moronic setup formulated only to throw half-naked hardbodies together and spark some cheap laughs. But is it too much to ask for some semblance of logic? "Surf School" shakes its head indignantly and hopes the carousel of bikinis, surfing and silly dialogue distracts you from the fact that nothing bears any relation to the known universe.
The movie bounces along with the intelligence level and tireless spirit of a puppy. It's fun to play with for a little while, but soon enough you wish it would go take a nap.
The hero is Jordan (Corey Sevier), who is first seen practicing lacrosse in his Maryland hometown. For some reason, his mom sends him to live in Laguna Beach, where he's shunned by the cool kids and hangs with the misfits, including brooding goth chick Doris (Laura Bell Bundy), athletic Mo (Sisqó), spiky-haired Taz (Miko Hughes) and a nerdy virgin named Larry (Lee Norris). None of the dorks is invited on the senior trip to Costa Rica, which coincides with the surf championships, but Jordan persuades his new friends to form a team anyway and jet off to Costa Rica. No one has any problem putting the money together on short notice. Must be nice.
Once at the beach, stoned surfer Rip (Harland Williams) whips the "B" team into shape, and when practice isn't in session, there's a lot of flirtation, drinking and hanging out, sometimes with a friendly monkey.
"Surf School" is funnier than it sounds, but it's still terrible. Writer/director Joel Silverman apes "Weird Science" (1985) by interjecting the same bars of the title song over and over again at random moments. He would have done better to remake "Weird Science," a tale of teens who create a woman when lightning strikes their computer. Illogical though it was, "Weird Science" makes more sense than "Surf School."
review
Surf School
HH
Rated: Not rated
Cast: Harland Williams, Ryan Carnes, Corey Sevier, Laura Bell Bundy
Writer/director: Joel Silverman
Family call: A little too sexual for kids.
Running time: 88 minutes
Opens Friday at: El Con, Foothills, Park Place
