SURFER, DUDE

US, 2008, 85 minutes, Colour.
Matthew Mc Conaughey, Woody Harrelson, Alexie Gilmore, Jeffrey Nordling, Nathan Phillips, Willie Nelson.
Directed by S.R.Binder.

There is no major reason for seeing this film, even if you are a devoted surfer. It is a routine story of a champion surfer, more than something of a stoner, who values his surfing more than his capacity for advertising. However, his manager is in earnest, urging him to take on jobs, because funds are very low and the surfer has no sense of saving his cash.

Enter an executive who is interested in reality television and sends his daughter into this world of surfing. She encounters the surfer, is involved in taping him in and of-the-cuff interview which finds its way on to television screens. And, she has a sexual liaison with him, even falling in love, which, on the surface, seems rather unlikely. Also in the picture is an unscrupulous promoter who is exploiting the surfer. And around him, there is a group of eager surfers like himself.

The main crisis is a 60 day period when there are no waves and no surfing.

The moral of the story is to go for promoters with integrity rather than double-dealers with their smooth talk. Not that audiences haven’t seen this kind of story before.

Speaking of reasons for seeing the film, the main one is that the surfer is played by Matthew Mc Conaughey, only five years away from his Oscar – though with this film that prospect doesn’t seem particularly likely. And he serves as one of the producers of the film. Woody Harrelson is the manager. Alexie Gilmore is the girl. Jeffrey Nordling is the promoter. There are also some Australians in the cast, Nathan Phillips and Travis Fine. And, of all people turning up distributing weed, is Willie Nelson.

More a curiosity piece than an entertainment.