Memorable, crazy movie

Best movie ever!

Beautiful, moving film.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

How can anyone say this is not a great movie? Sure, you know what's going to happen, and it's lame, and silly, but so what? There are plenty of songs you hear that you know how they're going to sound less than 20 seconds into it. Pro wrestling is fake, but it's not about that. This movie is fun. People who look into it, and try to analyze the movie are missing the point. It's not Citizen Kane, or Schindler's List. The point is, there's a time and a place for those movies. This movie isn't supposed to be that. It's thoughtless fun, an escape just like anything else. Had a bad day, wanna relax without putting ANY thought into anything, just watch this movie. It brings a smile to my face every time i watch it. Where else will you get a movie with a guy named Wiley, or get to hear Terry kaiser say "I'll even throw in a company car." Classic, simply classic cheese ball movie.

As an avid beach volleyball player I found this movie to be an embarrassment to true players everywhere. C. Thomas Howell's character lacks a lot of the basic volleyball skills(especially setting) to make it believable. Randy Stoklos/Sinjin Smith the opponents in the final were one of the greatest volleyball teams in the world at that time however they were HORRIBLE actors and had too many lines (more than one was probably enough). The scene that topped it off was the ridiculously bad(and illegal) set that Howell's character made on match point to win the championship! I can understand making a point of an underdog coming out of nowhere to get to an AVP final but the manner in which it was done was a joke to all those players who work their butts off to be on the tour year in and year out.

Spoilers herein.Sometimes the only value or pleasure you can get out of a film is to speculate on how you can make it better.Here is the old saw about a washed up athlete coming back and winning the championship. Naturally a love interest also has role in the business. Naturally, there is youngster to coach.The discriminator this time around was, I suppose, buff male volleyball players. But everything is so uninspired it makes my head hurt.However, this could have been a really good film because of the nature of the game. Every interesting filmmaker gets around to a sports film sooner of later. The `large team' sports are all about masses of people moving about, so when Oliver Stone gets involved, you get an interesting cinematic experience that has little to do with the game and everything to do with the choreography of movement.Boxing is something else that has been explored well, starting with Chaplin 80 years ago and peaking (for now) with `Raging Bull' which explored many approaches to engaging us in sharing the ring. Stallone exploited that as well. In these films, the handling of the sport is the excuse for everything in these films, and a worthy reason for a visual outing.Beach volleyball is an interesting, untapped opportunity. It is highly dimensional; the movement of the game involves people moving as individuals and small groups and in a way unencumbered by equipment and costumes. It has confrontation and collaboration. It can be sexual, at least superficially so. (Athletics and sex are contradictory.) In filmmaking terms, volleyball is cheap; all you need is a talented visual eye, some `athletic' cameramen and corresponding equipment and a clued in editor.So why haven't we seen for volleyball something as exciting as `Blue Crush,' which was far more challenging logistically?How would you approach this? Supposing you kept exactly the same script and actors, you might try adding two types of shots:--As it is, the contest itself has no identity beyond showing the scoreboard. But remember how in `Hoosiers' and `Cool Runnings' the contest itself was developed as a character? Remember how in `Slap Shot' and the first `Rollerball' the contest was as much with this character as with the opponents? So we'd need some shots that do this by assembling visions of all the mechanisms which define the contest: the ads, the promoters, and (in sweet self-reference) the TeeVee industry. mise-en-scene.--Far more challenging is to solve the problem of the eye at least as well as Scorsese did with `Bull,' something he borrowed from `Red Shoes.' We'd need two perspectives: one placed in the court and shifting between points of view and moving shots of the dynamics of the two players' strategic placement. After all, the idea is high speed chess to get the other folks where they do not want to be and exploit it. Unless we see the space, we can't relate to the game. The other type of shot is the ball, similarly ranging from on the ball (as a player of sorts) to dynamically tracking its trajectory. After all, the ball is incredibly fickle in whose side it is on, and this can exploited visually. I think a lot of this can more cheaply be done with a computer. Lots of slow motion of differing speeds. Some `matrix-like' freezed rotations.A ripe opportunity. Who will try it after the box office success of `Blue Crush.'Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 4: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

C. Thomas Howell and Courtney Thorne-Smith are the only two in the cast that really display any acting talent, but the parts are so poorly written that even they have trouble. The real focus of anybody watching this movie shouldn't be the plot (it's terrible) or the acting (equally bad), and god forbid that you try to follow the poorly-thought-out dialogue...the real focus of the movie is beach volleyball. The addition of such high-caliber players as Smith, Stoklos, Dodd, and Steffes saves this movie. I thoroughly enjoyed watching such incredible players, even though the games were scripted.Anyone think Kiraly will show up in Side Out 2?