Fads come and go. Right now it’s vampires. A couple of years ago it was pirates. For a long time Hollywood was all about Westerns. And for a very brief, horrifying moment in time, the world was obsessed with surfing movies.
But the days of Frankie and Annette are long gone, we’re long past them. Surfing movies are a punchline and not to be taken seriously. Of course we used to say the same thing about talent competitions and now American Idol is the biggest thing on the planet. So I guess it makes sense that it’s a former Idol who’s trying to bring surfing movies back. Variety says Carrie Underwood is set to star in Soul Surfer.
Now here’s the good news. Variety’s description of the film makes it sound more like a serious drama than one of those pieces of surfer fluff which seemed to revolve mainly around finding some excuse for a beachside musical number. It’s based on an autobiography about “a surf icon who defied all odds to compete and win professional championships after losing her arm in a shark attack at age 13.” That doesn’t sound like the kind of movie which might feature a cameo from Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters… but then there’s Underwood.
If you’re making a serious drama, or sports movie that happens to involve surfing, then you don’t hire Carrie Underwood. She’s not an actress, she’s a country singer. Maybe she’ll surprise us and maybe this will be her Precious or something, but right now she has no acting experience and that means there’s every reason to expect a poolside duet with Captain Geech. Since it’s an excuse to get her in a bikini, I plan to enjoy every minute of it. Men. We’re disgusting.
