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Review #85 of 365
Film: The Surfer King [PG-13]
WIP™ Scale: $9.00
When 1st Seen: 5 April 2006 (world premier)
Where Viewed: Temple Buell Theatre, Denver, CO
Review Dedicated to: Matt F. of Madison, WI via West Hills, CA
DVD Release: 21 August 2007 (click link below review to purchase)
It isn’t often that there are opportunities to see World Premiers of films outside of LA, NYC, and London. So, when one opens up in your home town, I recommend going if for nothing else than to see a real red carpet rolled out with celebrities walking down the row of adoring fans. Also, check the attire. There will still be people of the old school, you know the type that still put on a coat and tie to fly coach class from Amarillo, TX to Phoenix, AZ in early August? At last night’s world premier of The Surfer King, there were all sorts of people dressed to the nines with fancy dresses and suits. Then there was a class of people that looked nice, but not ready for a gala. After that, there was the came in what I was wearing group; and, finally, a group that had fun and wore things like sports coats with surf shorts and Reef® sandals. Wanting to adhere to protocols, the staff of the Temple Buell Theatre, part of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (trivia: which just happens to be the largest theatre complex after the Lincoln Center in NYC in the United States), had rolled out the red carpet and set up a Hollywood-style welcome with a touch of Colorado charm. It was great fun to observe the fans lining up an hour before so they could claim the best perch along the red carpet so they could see the three stars of the film scheduled to attend. Everyone was incredibly happy, and there was a sense of electricity in the air. The event was organized to benefit three charities: Lalmba—an organization that aids hospitalized children in Africa, Hyland Hills Foundation—a foundation that raises money to provide all children within the Hyland Hills district of Colorado access to some of the finest recreational facilities anywhere (including Hyland Hills Water World—arguably the nation’s top water park), and the Hospice of St. John which provides support to terminally ill patients and their families. The event also included a dinner before with the cast and crew and an after party with music by the Aquasonics--Colorado's top Beach Band. I did not attend these functions, yet I am sure they were lots of fun.
At approximately 7:55 p.m., a hushed silence followed by a murmured buzz swept through the crowd as the people began to walk the red carpet. The only stars from the film that were able to be present (the others all had very good excuses, according to the producer) were the film’s two male leads, Randy Wagner and Ben Ziff, and the woman of my boyhood dreams, I’m sure she’s tired of being called this but, the Bionic Woman, Lindsay Wagner. While my peers were crushing on Farrah Fawcett, I was more enamored with Lindsay Wagner, and I am not sorry to admit that now. I adored her because she was super strong, super smart, and incredibly heroic. By some irony, I am guessing they must have been ‘friends’ or acquaintances, at least, because Farrah Fawcett ended up marrying Lee Majors (the Bionic Man and great friend of the Bionic Woman). In any case, it was a thrill to see the real Lindsay Wagner, who according to the producer, was lured back into making this film a few some years of pseudo retirement—look for a few other upcoming projects from her in the near future—proudly walking the red carpet, taking her obligatory interview with KUSA NBC news, and posing for the flash photos on dozens of cell phones (does anyone use a real camera anymore?). She was preceded, of course, by Ben Ziff and Randy Wayne—unfortunately less recognizable to the crowd--who were in extremely chipper moods. After all that excitement, the crowd hurried into the theatre to take their assigned seats (such a novel concept) to enjoy a brief speech by the producer and then to see the film. I thought it was an awfully nice touch that he asked all of the extras from the film to stand—and their were hundreds of them—and that he asked everyone to remain for the entirety of the credits to support all of the people who worked behind the scenes on the film’s production. It also, isn’t very common for people to ever get to see the producers of a film or hear from them. There is something kind of cool to see the person or persons and hear what their logic was in making this film. In this case the producer said, “We made this film to bring old and new friends together. This film is not going to change the world, but in the end everyone comes out closer than when the started.” The lights dropped, and the film popped up on screen.
Some readers, undoubtedly, are going to wonder if all of that preliminary material was merely window dressing to draw attention away from the fact that The Surfer King is not that spectacular of a film. Well, I cannot tell a lie, indeed, it absolutely pains me to admit it. I mean, let’s put the elements into perspective. We have two veteran tv star legends in the cast (Ms Wagner and Alan Thicke), we have some up-and-coming tv/movie star kids in the cast (Randy ‘“Sons and Daughters”’ Wayne, Ben ‘“American Dreams” and “Navy CIS”’ Ziff, Keri Lynn ‘“Jack and Bobby” and “Seventh Heaven”’ Pratt, and Cerina ‘"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and Not Another Teen Movie’ Vincent; and we have a movie about a California surfer stud named Robby who’s mom decides to move back to land-locked Denver where she has a really good job after her husband abandons them and runs off to Mexico with his administrative assistant and all of their money, we have a movie filmed entirely on location at Hyland Hills Water World—which, as I mentioned before is one of the best water parks in the USA. What else could anyone need? How about comedian Gabriel Iglesias masquerading as a Hawai’ian smoothie king? Ok, now that does it. In all honesty, The Surfer King is a harmless, in parts really funny, but nonetheless smaller budget film. It reminded me of a slightly more juicy Disney® Channel film one might watch on an afternoon when it was too rainy to go to your local water park. The characters are all likeable. The concept of having a kid come to Colorado and be given no choice but to surf in the wave pool is funny—the script didn’t take that much advantage of this ‘fish out of water’ aspect of the story as it could have, and I wish it would have. Mr. Wayne and Mr. Zif did a great job of punching realism into the dialog and making it seem authentic. Their on-screen chemistry, actually, might well be the highlight of the film, no disrespect to Ms Wagner nor Mr. Thicke, their parts are supporting roles, and we simply did not get to see enough of them. Personally, and perhaps too sentimentally, I would have liked to have seen much more of Lindsay Wagner. Mr. Thicke got a bit more action in the film as the legendary Pipeman who knows all about how to properly surf in the wave pools. For unknown reasons, he is reluctant to agree to mentor young Robby in surfing at the water park event of the summer—the employee Olympics which has been won year after year by the Lifeguards team over the unable-to-swim Concessions team and the 14-year old Grounds Crew team. Eventually, he comes around and works with the lad proving persistence pays. There are several side-line stories going on including one about the owner’s daughter behaving too much like a princess and belittling the other employees and her father working to try to get her to change. Some of the side-stories were supposedly derived by the writer/director, Bernard Murray Jr., from tales his son brought home from 8 years of working at a water park.
As I have written before about small budget feature films, I really admire people who take on the challenge and giving life to a dream in this way. I can imagine how cool it would be to have been Bernard Murray Jr. yesterday evening and to get to unveil his creation to a very friendly audience. Meanwhile, it is much easier to be critical of a movie than to make a movie—which I why I try really hard to find the good in all films. The really good thing about this film is that for all the movies made these days, this one is really pretty down-to-earth and the stuff that earned the film a [PG-13] rating is relatively tame in relation to the vast majority of films pitched at the tweeners market. I also enjoyed the Employee Olympics competition with a twist on the outcome. Of course, I thought that Mr. Wayne and Mr. Zif did great jobs of bringing wholesome charm to their roles, making them believable, and collegial. I thought most of the other actors seemed like they were trying a little bit too hard at times with the result being, perhaps, a bit less realistic. The pacing of the film was quite good and the locales and fun of living in a water park for a month was obvious. As for the message of the film, it does not preach nor try to hit home any grand morals. It is mostly about believing in yourself, taking positive and safe risks, and staying true to yourself and real friends. Unlike what happened in the recent film She’s the Man, the losers of the competition in this film demonstrate very good sportsmanship as you might expect--personally, I thought this was an excellent touch.
In the end, this was an enjoyable little film--perfect for tweeners. Their parents/guardians can send them in to see this film, which I understand is opening in five theaters this weekend in Denver, without worry of corrupting influences on their children.
Purchase the DVD for the Surfer King from our premier partner, MoviesUnlimted.com using this link:
The Surfer King [DVD](2006)
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