_**Hope for scum**_

Three young female surfers in Hawaii support their lifestyle as maids at a high-class hotel. Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) has dreams of going professional, but she has to get over her past failures and her family's breakup to succeed. In the meantime a vacationing NFL quarterback (Matthew Davis) romances her and she has to determine if their relationship is serious or not. Michelle Rodriguez and Sanoe Lake co-star as Anne Marie's surfing friends.

"Blue Crush" (2002) is a 'sports film' in the manner of "Karate Kid" and a host of others. Although some of these movies go the comedy route -- e.g. "Cloud 9" and "Bad News Bears" -- "Crush" is a serious drama with fun flashes.

Filmed on the beaches/resorts of O'ahu, Hawaii, this is a beautiful and exhilarating film to watch, the perfect remedy if the weather in your area has been dreary.

There's no profanity, raunch or t&a exploitation but, to be expected, the film features some good-looking women in swimwear throughout. By "good-looking" I mean realistically so, not like Baywatch.

For the first hour the film was pretty much what I expected it to be, nothing great but moderately entertaining for this type of flick, and then something happened at the the 58-minute mark that struck a chord. Anne Marie hits the waves with her friend (Rodriquez) to prepare for the Pipeline Masters as we hear the song "Youth of the Nation" by P.O.D. This sequence touched me for some reason. The music & lyrics are emotionally potent and effectively set the tone for the remainder of the film.

"Youth of the Nation" exemplifies the zeitgeist of the new millennium much as "My Generation" represents the mid-60s and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" typifies the 90s. Everyone's heard the song by now but if you're not sure go to Youtube and listen to it with lyrics; it's a standout piece, including the heartrending lyrics. It's reality.

For me, the film's just compelling enough to give a marginal thumbs up. Fans of surfing and Bosworth (or any of the other actors) will appreciate "Blue Crush" more than me. But I was moved by the above musical interlude and one other thing...

What affected me most is the picture of the three maids, impoverished and disdained by the snobs but full of youthful zeal and hope. It strangely reminded me of something I experienced on my last trip to Southern California. I was leaving the last showing of a theater late at night and spied the janitorial crew coming in to clean with their mops & buckets. They were Mexicans, mostly young, and possibly illegal aliens. Everyone walked by them as if they were invisible, like they were the scum of society or something. But I made a point to acknowledge them and smile. I don't feel I deserve a medal for this or anything; it's just that I made a decision long ago that, no matter how far I go in life, I'm not going to look down on or ignore those in a more modest position. Why? I don't know, maybe because I'M scum.

The film runs 1 hour, 44 minutes.

GRADE: B-