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DVD National Lampoon Presents: Surf Party
 Run time: 105 min Rating: 3.1 Genres: Comedy Director: Sam Pillsbury Writers: John ‘J.D.’ Drury, Kevin Lyman Stars: Vanessa Angel, Richmond Arquette, Jules Bruff |
| Storyline From National Lampoon, the masters of raunchy comedy, comes a summer tale of beers, babes, and bros! In the surf town of Ventura, California, JD’s surf board is stolen by a surfer from Los Angeles…a crime that cannot go unpunished. Gathering his friends and the local surf hero, Mike Mooney, they take a road trip to LA to get the surfboard back, then return to Ventura for the wildest summer party ever! Written by Anonymous |
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| Plot Keywords: party, surfboard, fight, revenge, high school student | |
| Details: Country: USA Release Date: 4 March 2014 (USA) |
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DVD National Lampoon Presents: Surf Party
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4 comments
This movie just goes to show you that the National Lampoon name doesn't really mean anything anymore. This feels like a low-budget TV Movie, with a simple linear story, basic acting, and a stereotypical cast. However, it isn't "awful"… it is saved by some interesting outcomes I wasn't expecting at all, and a cast that doesn't try to hard with their limited dialogue.
I don't know why they called this "Surf Party" as their is hardly any surfing, and hardly any partying. It's about a stolen surf board, and the short quest to venture from Ventura (see what I did there) into the Valley to recover it.
Since this is National Lampoon branded film, you might be expecting a lot of nudity. But this film doesn't deliver much even on that front… so you will be disappointed if that is all you seek.
Not much to recommend, really. If you're from Ventura or surrounding areas you'll see familiar sites (I enjoyed that aspect at least). However, the "Wonder Years" style of opening and closing seems to be a particularly cheesy flavor for this genre of film.
I saw this movie at the video store, and i am a bit of a sucker for those type of "teen overnight" movies. I decided to rent it and to be honest, i felt it was pretty disappointing. First, thankfully i didn't saw "Endless Bummer" cause i just saw its that movie repack with a new title. Awkward…
So i start to watch it and it start as a typical presentation of all the movies protagonist, then incident happen(surf get stolen) and we can start the overnight. Problem is, its just not done right.
This concept has been done many times, movies that did it right where the ones like Superbad, 21 and Over and so on. This movie just follow the group during that night but nothing really funny happen.
They more or less find the guy, dad acknowledge what his son did was wrong, let them punch him a couple time and thats it. You would expect the thief to have friends, our protagonist trying to get back the surf board but always coming short of it, getting screwed and then eventually planning some kind of big revenge, i dunno. But the thing is, they find him, dad let them in, they pick the surf board, and thats it. How they wait and want revenge on the guy is extremely silly as well…
Couple stuff happen to the secondary characters, but nothing major and i dunno what else to say, its just not as funny as this kind of movie should be. At the end you got a speech telling us about what happened to the characters like this was somewhat a real story, i dunno, but its not.
I wouldn't say its totally terrible, just that it really lacks funny moments and for a 2009 movie repacked in late 2013… you wonder what was the motivation. Lets just say i am generous with a 5.
A guy from the Valley steels a Surf Board from a surfer he thinks is now with his ex-girlfriend. This leads to the surfer, his friends and a local surf hero to track down the thief in the valley and retrieve the board. A journey that inevitably starts them each on the next chapter of there lives. Has a 70's Surf vibe to the movie.
Done Before…..
Well I guess it's true, it has all been done before and every thing is a repeat, but this is ridiculous. The movie Endless Bummer (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1047102/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_8) was released in 2009 and this is the same movie with just a couple of extra scenes edited in to it. RE-releasing the same move after RE-editing it and giving it a new title is just plain lazy and insulting. The extra bits don't add to the movie and you would be better of watching the original.
National Lampoon are just getting lazy and need to be punished for it.
BUT…. in saying all that, this is still a fun movie to watch on a rainy afternoon. 7/10.
The title is very misleading and I do not see why they put National Lampoon in front of this movie and why did they call it surf party? When I started to watch this movie I did not have very high expectations about the content and thought this would be like another hyperactive T&A movie with a surf theme.
To my surprise, I found out this was not true. Instead this is a coming of age movie that tells a story about some friends on a journey to find a stolen surf board and why the surf board got stolen. Main characters are likable and the acting feels normal. The movie flows along in a nice pace and I never got bored or looked at the clock while watching this movie.
This movie reminds me of teen movies from the late 70's like The Van (1977) and Malibu Beach (1978). The movie also has some quirky characters appearing like Joan Jett and Lee Ving. The only thing missing here is Steve Oliver as Dugan, getting into a fight and yelling, "Nobody calls Dugan a turd!"
As a surf comedy and a National Lampoon movie, there is no nudity, but the girls show some skin in bikini's. I think the movie tries to rely on storytelling and characters rather than showing T&A to keep viewers interested though the movie.
A modern surf comedy that feels like a late 70's surf comedy? A pleasant surprise.