j* movie reviews 2020

Surfer, Dude (2008)

Is it bad, stoner-surfer genius, or avant-garde?

I'm not sure I'll ever know the answer to this question but it's a strange film. I'm pretty sure it has to be the worst rated film on Rotten Tomatoes that I've ever watched, sitting in at 0% with the critics and dud 26% with the audience. And yet, look at that cast... Matthew McConaughey, Willie Nelson and Woody Harrelson.

The question, probably, is what is the story in this film? And it's not the clearest. McConaughey plays Addington, soul surfer extraordinaire. He returns home penniless and chillaxed from some surfing trip to discover things are sort of changing in the hood. The big-wig has set up a reality tv show based on a house full of surfers and hot chicks, and wants Addington in it. There's a side project here that involves "digitising" the surfers into a computer game. Neither of these things appeals to Addington, but he is keen on the money. This tension between wanting the money and not wanting to sell out seems to be the major storyline.

But then, is it? Because the real waves just up and stop, and Addington goes into fasting mode, no girls, no drugs. He also goes to Mexico, but this wave drought is widespread. Along the way he begins to develop a thing with East Coast Danni, the chick who came from New York to work on the reality show before getting fired because she didn't like the producer's unethical ways.

So probably it is a bit lax on story. It tries to make up for this with a lot of gags about pot-smoking surfers. But then some describe it as a stoner-comedy without any stoner-comedy. Willie Nelson is a way-out goat farmer with 300 goats running free. That's a lot of goats.

I didn't hate it, but it really is borderline unwatchable. Having said that, you do get an awful lot of McConaughey for your money.

J* gives it 2 stars.

PS. I'm curious to at some point watch McConaughey's next stoner-film, Beach Bum, to see how it lines up.