This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Not Settling For the Silver
Plot Overview
Surfing bum Alex Harrison (Ross
Thomas) has won some accolades as an inline skater but is unable to
secure a sponsor on account of his being “unreliable”
and a “slacker.” He makes fun of sissy ice skaters. His
off and on squeeze Heidi Clements (Kim Kindrick) is a model relying
on her good looks, not having to do anything more demanding
than “smile & change clothes.” They understand
each other well.
Competitive
ice skater Jackie Dorsey (Christy Carlson Romano) is driven to a
fault. She's forced to take an L.A. vacation after suffering a sport injury
showing off. She and Alex connect on the beach and hit it off until
they discover they'd been keeping secrets from each other: Alex
being a valet at her fancy hotel and Jackie a prima dona skater.
She returns to Connecticut but Alex catches her on the news
accepting tryouts for a partner in pairs skating. He teaches
himself the rudiments figuring it for a piece of cake. It's
like that ex-army conscript looking to take up farm work in an old
Peter Rosegger novel:
The housefather asked with dignity: “Where do you come from?”
I replied: “From the barracks, with my discharge. Thank God, I am once more among peasants! Oh, these cities! This military service! A man gets really ill if obliged to give up his accustomed manual labour. Work is the only good thing in the world!”
I thought I had managed very cleverly. But the peasant turned to an old woman standing behind him and said: “Do hear this chatter! He who knows anything about work tells a rather different tale.” (7)
They must
master cooperation as opposed to contention. Alex moves into the
family mansion, they subsist on spaghetti, and they train at an ice
palace. He and Jackie rub off on each other as in a Sudermann novel:
At dusk Paul came home, black as a nigger, for the peat-dust, which the wind had been blowing about, had settled on his beard and face.He mutely shook hands with his sisters, looked sharply into their eyes, and said, “You shall tell me all about it afterwards.”
Greta looked at Kate, and Kate looked at Greta; then they suddenly laughed aloud, and seizing him by both shoulders, danced about the room with him.
“You will make yourselves black, children,” he said.
“My sweetheart is a chimney-sweep,” hummed Greta, and Kate sang the second verse, “My sweetheart comes from the nigger's land.”
Then they kissed him and ran to the looking glass to see whether the kiss had left a mark. (273)
Another “piñata pair” was dressed in matching costumes: he had on a mardi gras shirt with white trousers, she a white blouson with mardi gras skirt. It was as if there were a cross-migration of colors between them. Similarly, Alex acquired some of Jackie's discipline while Jackie took on some of his laid back bearing.
Ideology
The not unexpected
romance that blossoms between the two leads is tangled enough to be
preposterous were it not for the movie world preparing us for
it. Think along the lines of, (Prov. 30:18-19) “There be three
things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:
The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock;
the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man
with a maid.” The writer of this proverb cannot track an eagle
drifting on the air currents, a slithering serpent on a rock, or a ship
tossed on the sea, much less “the way of a man with a maid.”
The air display in this movie is of a sea gull drifting up above while eyeing the activity on the sand below. Alex and his friend Scottie (Ryan Hansen) are seen scoping out the scantily clad babes on the beach. A first move gets made.
“The way of a serpent upon a rock” is represented by Alex on inline skates negotiating an erected obstacle course with various ramps and ledges. Their's will be an up and down romance of thrills and setbacks.
“A ship tossed on the sea” is represented by Jackie on a borrowed board wiping out in the waves as expected of a novice. She's very inexperienced with men and it doesn't always go well for her.
Production Values
“” (Video 2006) was directed by Sean McNamara. It was written by Dan Berendsen and Tony Gilroy. It stars Christy Carlson Romano, Ross Thomas and Scott Thompson Baker. The acting by one and all was unimpressive; I've seen better at high school plays.
MPA rated it PG–13 for sexual situations, nudity and language. The vistas were barely hinted at on a smallish TV screen. The camera kept coming back to the same clump of fans and we had to use our imagination to project a full house. The stunt double skaters did some amazing moves, beyond what even a naturally talented athlete could have accomplished in so short a training time. The script had potential if there had only been an ingenious director and/or actors to embellish it. What we got was cheese. I think the movie could have been better made, and perhaps it was in an earlier version. Runtime is 1 hour 38 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
From a Christian's perspective the best thing about this movie is it won't inspire young women to head off to Hollywood to become stars or to L.A. to take up modeling. In fact aspiring beach bums could get the impression that all the best chicks are taken, and olympic contenders might think twice after seeing some spills.
It's a good one for taking the shine off the glamour. What's on the other channels?
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Well done action flick. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Well, at least you can't see the strings. Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Two stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture is taken from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Rosegger, Peter. The Earth and the Fullness Thereof. Copyright, 1902 by Frances E. Skinner. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1902. Print.
Sudermann, Hermann. Dame Care. New York: The Modern Library. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org