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  • Surf School is without question one of the worst movies I've ever had the misfortune to watch. It's dull, predictable, poorly conceived and painfully unfunny. The characters are paper thin and the plot lurches awkwardly from one yawn-inducing scene to the next. There is not a single original or entertaining moment in the entire 85 or so minutes. This film tries to position itself as a comedy in the vein of American Pie but whilst that movie (and it's first sequel) succeeded at being both entertaining and engaging Surf School fails spectacularly on both counts.

    This movie should not be watched by anyone ever.

    As a side note I find it interesting that the people who have left comments raving about how great this movie is have never commented on any other films. Draw from that your own conclusions.
  • davidb-3612 February 2007
    Apparently one of the ways you can choose to die when you're sentenced to death is to watch this movie. No one has chosen this route because it too painful a way to go.

    This movie is really bad. It should in fact be banned. The video store where I rented this from should really keep movies like this behind the counter, anyone could just pick it up, and rent it.

    Basic story.. Underdogs who can't surf have a week to learn how to surf and beat REAL surfers who probably have been surfing all their lives, at the World High School surf championships in Costa Rica. And there seems to only be 3 teams that enter this contest. The local team from Costa Rica. Laguna Beach Team B(<----underdogs) and Laguna Beach Team A (The bad-guys).

    This movie sucks so much I can't believe I'm using more then 3 paragraphs to let you know how much it sucks. There's notions of bestiality, lame fart jokes (I thought that fart jokes are alway funny.... I've found a movie where it's not), and a pretty crappy brave-heart imitation. Something about "You can take our lives, but you can't take our SPIRIT!!!). This movie should really be banned. After I've finished this "review" I'm starting a web site where people sign a petition to get crap like this outlawed. If I could give this movie a minus score, I would.

    Don't watch it, please, I beg you.... you'll thank me later
  • I curse the day that IMDb didn't put an option to be able to vote 0 for a film. Even 1 is far too much of an accolade for this steaming pile of horse manure The film is just plain terrible its like they took gross out clichéd clips of jokes from other films and ran them one after another on here. The acting is terrible and the gratuitous shots of dumb bimbos got tedious and repetitive.

    Don't watch this, even if your into all the topless or bikini clad girls. The films is just plain pathetic.

    This film has a laughable plot, has no comedy, and bad acting, in fact its a travesty it was ever made. I though I would never say this, but I'd rather watch a Uwe Boll movies instead of this.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    With early comparisons to "American Pie" and "Road Trip," I wasn't expecting much when I saw SURF SCHOOL this past week. Actually, I like mindless, escapist fluff comedies, and was prepared for one of those here. What I found was one of the most gawd-awful 90 minutes I ever spent in a theater.

    The plot was simplistic but had potential: typical "fish out of water" scenario, with East Coast transfer student Jordan (Corey Sevier) feeling out of place in a Laguna Beach high school run by a group of championship surfers, led by Tyler (Ryan Carnes). He bands together with other misfits at the school, including a geeky punk, silent goth girl and a perpetual virgin nerd, and enrolls in a surf school prior to the high school surfing championship in Costa Rica. Got the ending figured out yet? No surprises, believe me.

    Most of the comic relief is provided by the alcoholic former "surf dude" who runs the school (overplayed beyond endurance by Harland Williams), and a couple of oversexed 60's era hippies who run the place where they are staying. Whatever funny moments there are (including a running gag by Williams inviting people for "mahi-mahi" and a chimp "flirting" with the virgin nerd) are overdone until they lose their appeal. And the film is filled with patronizing stereotypes, from three gorgeous Sweedish tourists to the illogical choice of a flaming campy gay MC at the surf championship. The dialog meanders in illogical circles, leaving the audience scratching their heads in confusion and wondering if this was mostly ad-libbed. The outtakes over the closing credits are better than some of the scenes left in the film. The writer/director should consider some other line of work.
  • A poor script was brought even farther down by horrible acting, especially on the part of Corey Sevier (unfortunately the main character). The girl who played Doris was decent but disappointingly had a minimal role. I would not recommend this movie to anyone. This movie was a waste of money. The cast and crew seemed likable enough as people but should probably consider finding another field to work in. The blonde foreign girls were gorgeous but that was all. They could have benefited from some better accent training. This movie was hard to sit through. I wanted to leave after the first two scenes. Corey really made a badly scripted movie even worse with his complete lack of acting skills.
  • The writing is horrible - even for a campy teen movie, it plain sucked. The acting was very bad, the direction was bad. I feel bad for the cast who probably worked for peanuts, to be portrayed in such a crappy film. I'm glad I was able to see it for free. Don't waste your $3 to rent, OR buy this - wait till it comes on Spike TV at 3am, that way you can sleep through most of it. Diane and Taylor have the only bright spot in the movie as a goofy couple, but it's not enough to carry this film. Frankly the only thing remotely worth seeing is the beach and scenery of Costa Rica. I give it a 1 simply out of pity, and because a negative option wasn't available.
  • it's interesting to note that teens, college kids reviewing here - view movies - as nothing more than a 'bunch of stuck together bits'. minds seem unable to think in terms of a integrated 'whole'.

    cant believe i'm even taking time to write how excruciatingly awful unfunny boring clichéd this unspeakable thing was, the movie studio allowing him to make it must have been because they wanted to see him

    as the assistant manager at a taco bell not writing producing movies - that is the only possible explanation

    with something this bad one must not have many friends to clue you in before it too late 'hey this is bad bad bad' 7th graders on you tube have better writing skills.

    i'm demanding my rental fee be waived on principle when i sheepishly have to walk this turkey of all turkeys in.

    i wonder if class action suits might be possible against the studio and producer for foisting this on unsuspecting consumers as a 'comedy'. the supreme court surely would assess this as 'cruel and unusual punishment' even for multiple victim murders. studio dweebs out there - how in the name of creation does something this BAD get produced?! That is what i'd like to know.

    BTW, the manager at my Blockbuster consented to waive the rental charge..and added she's heard that from EVERYONE.
  • ross-jeremy-126 July 2007
    Warning: Spoilers
    This was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The only reason that I watched this crap was because Harland Williams was in it. He is a great improv comic/actor. I wish that the movie would have shown more of him.

    The plot is just like any other....underdogs beat the champs. Very few funny parts during the whole movie. Harland along with the couple still locked in the 60's made this movie. They were hilarious. The outtakes at the end of the movie was a great way to end this film.

    The girls were very attractive in this movie. Great job finding them but as soon as they "read" their lines, it ruined it.

    I would not recommend this movie to anyone.
  • Of all the movies I've seen, even the terrible ones, I haven't encountered many that cared as little about themselves as this movie does. It seems uninterested in the characters, the plot, and even the premise of the story. Despite being titled "Surf School", the process of learning to surf gets very little screen time. More time is spent chasing after the women of the film, who seen to serve no purpose except to model swimsuits. Then again, the men are only there to chase the women.

    Someone in production must have found the line "Mahi-mahi" hysterical, as Rip repeats it several times throughout, never achieving more than a vague sensation of nausea. Again, someone must have found the emcee for the competition tolerable and perhaps even amusing as he gave lines that must have been ad-libbed about the attractiveness of teenage boys. The list of bad decisions goes on and on.

    I suppose it's moderately entertaining to watch this for the purpose of mocking it, but then there are so many other movies that serve that function so much better.
  • *Yawn* another underdog movie. This one goes nowhere. Apart from Costa Rica, which looks nice.

    Once the novelty of stereotyping of the main characters has worn off, that's about it as far as the plot goes. After which nothing happens. Goth girl says nothing, geeky guy gets sexually wound-up by local girl, then nothing happens. Random characters constantly appear, say a few lines and vanish, their 'joke' exhausted, never to be seen again. Just when everything grinds to a halt, show a few bikini-clad girls for everyone to drool over.

    Hang on... these guys are supposedly learning to surf within a week. A few day/night sequences later and no surfing. I check the time - what...half way through the film and nothing has happened. Then there's the gratuitous topless scene. Snore, boring, eject.

    Oddly enough there's more fun to be had in laughing at all the lame 10* reviews of this movie, which do nothing to shift the fact that Surf School is well embedded in the IMDb bottom 100 and not likely to budge for a very long time.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    I rented Surf School, and the 1st time I saw it, I hated it, and wrote a very negative review. Then, being a huge fan of Harland Williams, I saw it again, and I have to admit I laughed very hard. It might be misleading since for months I have had a spiteful review of it up on IMDb. Now, here is my apology letter to Harland Williams: I am sorry, Harland for saying you were creepy in this, I found you quite funny, and sorry for saying you're career's drowning, it's just beginning. Williams plays R.I.P., a deluded ex-surfer in this. The first time I saw this, I thought he was creepy. When I watched it again, he was absolutely hysterical. This movie is absolutely hysterical, and does not deserve the crap it's taking. I can't believe I didn't find this funny the 1st time. I think maybe because this movie has gotten so much hate I thought it had to be terrible. I am glad I took a second look at this. Harland Williams is hilarious, and I say to all the people who hate this film that all these people who wrote how much they liked it on IMDb who only wrote a review for Surf School, well now there's someone who likes it who has 12 pages of reviews and growing. When I saw it the 2nd time, I found it absolutely hysterical, saw it a couple of more times, and still found it funny, so sue me if you will for loving a movie everyone else seems to despise.
  • I checked the rating on this thing before Netflixing it and was about to cancel my order, but I decided to see how bad it was since it was listed on IMDb as the worst movie in history. Sorry people, it's not a 1. Not even close. I'm 23 and watched it with my brother age 17 and I was laughing with him. He was really laughing. Most kids aren't gonna write a review on IMDb. The people writing this stuff are probably OLDER. This flick's not for you. The surf bum was the guy from Half Baked and he's always funny. The girls are totally hot. Costa Rica was amazing. I laughed maybe 10 times which is more than I usually laugh. Sure it dragged in a few spots but it was overall a fun movie.
  • Where do I start. Well, after deciding this would be an excellent Friday evening movie, my wife and I made popcorn, fixed some drinks and got comfy on the couch. The evening was set, once I hit play on the remote to start the epic movie journey, referred to as surf school. The movie extravaganza that followed single handedly changed my perception of any future cinema experience.

    It was interesting that at about the 6 minute mark of the movie, the plot started to become apparent. This was about the same time I finished my first drink, whereby and tried to use the glass tumbler to slash my arteries to end the painful sensation I was experiencing through the TV screen. This may sound extreme, but I suggest you only question those other lost souls who have witnessed this movie to at least try to understand. Glancing at my wife who loves a good comedy, I found her in the fetal position, shaking and inconsolable due to the footage she had to endure. And this was only now 7 minutes in.

    We made it to the end of the film, thinking to ourselves it couldn't get any worse. However, the Jews said that early in World war 2 and we were both wrong.

    The ending made my day however, the Gothic chick with no mates turned out to be a blond babe who could instantly surf, meaning everyone was happy and lived happily ever after on the beach. I will admit, any movie that is strong enough to tie up all the loose ends in such a way is pure production and directional brilliance.

    The movie was nothing short of a modern day cinematic classic, up there with the godfather, the shaw-shank redemption and that opening sequence of saving private Ryan.

    I recommend it be played to suspects during police interrogations in order to seek quick confessions, whereby people will admit to anything in order to have it turned off.

    Should you be on a date with a new partner and it isn't working out so well, pop this DVD in and they will be gone in no time, never to return.

    Watch at your own peril.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    I know "high school" was a popular movie theme in the early 2000's, but by 2006 the trend was dying and this was clearly a last itch effort to cash in on the teen comedy genre. You have all the high school movie stereotypes, ever, there is a new kid from out of town, a goth/emo/punk chick, a quirky foreign exchange student, a super nerdy nerd, a token black guy, lots of bikini girls - everything.

    The whole thing is a classic underdog story, the only difference is that the goal of the underdogs is to win a surfing competition. Thrown in there are a lot of forced jokes that are unfunny and don't make sense in the story. The characters are so flat you cannot see them sideways, and the chemistry between them is not there at all.

    It's like someone heard of the basic concepts for a high school comedy, over the phone, but never actually saw one; and when they made this movie, it was with as little effort as possible, from everyone involved. End result is most unsatisfactory
  • Well, at least this one has closed captions AND DVD captions...if anyone cares! So, the deaf and hard of hearing can also enjoy watching films that are awful piles of dreck! It's interesting that two films in the IMDb Bottom 100 have similar titles. There is SNOWBOARD ACADEMY and SURF SCHOOL--which would apparently indicate that some sort of trend might be occurring. Perhaps there will be a ROLLER BLADE UNIVERSITY or the like coming out in the next few years!

    When the film begins, it's obvious that writer Joel Silverman had watched a lot of formulaic teen films from the last 25 years. All the characters seem like caricatures. There is the female Japanese exchange student who doesn't speak English (a knockoff of the female French exchange student from BETTER OFF DEAD), the hyper-religious mom and her hyper-square virgin son (straight from CARRIE--but without the insane magic powers), the obligatory black teen (from practically ALL teen movies--and why do they always come in ones?!), the punk rock-ish boy with weird hair (again, from most teen films), the Goth girl who is so obviously 'hot' underneath all that black makeup (but, of course, no one recognizes this) and gear and the very nice AND hot leading man (can't the leading guy NOT be hot for once?!). It's all about as believable as the Tooth Fairy and betrays hack writing.

    Taylor Negron and Diane Delano play an older couple who are rather repulsive. It's not just that they behave like horny dogs in heat but they are just gross people. Not a particularly pleasant couple and not what any sane person would consider 'comic relief'! There is a chimp on hand as well. Whenever the ape appears, references to bestiality seem to follow. Nice touch, huh?! The appearance of Harland William did not bode well. While he can be funny when he just talks off the cuff on TV, in films he has a very strong propensity to appear in ANYTHING...as long as it's bad. When ROCKETMAN is one of the best movie of his career, you know you're in trouble! The females in the movie, with the exception of the Goth girl, are there for pretty much one thing...sex. They are horny bimbos who have no depth whatsoever or personalities and they are nothing but walking pairs of breasts--which you see quite often. I doubt if N.O.W. would approve.

    The film is about a group of losers (listed above) who go to Costa Rica a week ahead of their fellow senior class members so they can ski the K-2...no, wait, that's also BETTER OFF DEAD (and about 4523 other teen films). No, they want to learn to surf and out-surf the stuck-up jerks who are graduating with them in only a few weeks. Wow,...now that's an important and worthwhile goal!

    Overall, there is really nothing to recommend this film. It's unfunny, crude, horribly written and appallingly unlikable. Remarks about body crabs and crotch itching, images of Williams sitting on the toilet taking a dump and, once again, the bestiality references make this one abominably offensive and stupid film. I could only imagine it being of interest to people who are either actively psychotic or under the influence of very, very strong intoxicants. A loser of a film that I couldn't have hated any more. Repellent garbage...at best.

    Currently, this film is ranked #50 on the IMDb Bottom 100 of the worst films ever made. I think this is way too generous and might just give the impression that this film is better than it actually is!
  • All i wanted from this comedy was to laugh. I did, frequently, so Surf School gets a thumbs up. It concerns some young American students who go to Costa Rica, nicely filmed on location, to beat their rival students at a surf contest. Corey Sevier is our hunky hero, try not laughing when Rip calls him "hairdo!, Jordan who leads some rather appealing misfits. Thers Sisqo," Brothers don't surf!" and Laura Bell Bundy as a very hot goth girl, the guy who played Taz was funny and poor virgin Larry!

    Harland Williams plays Rip, their somewhat water-logged surf instructor, Williams is funny in this, I think he's much better in little supporting parts than leads. Some of his dialog is clear off the cuff and very funny. Our heroes have little bread so they bunk at a commune run by '60's radicals. The couple is hysterically played by Taylor Negron and Diana Delano. Negron is always funny, they should bottle this dude! He's really funny here with some odd accent. Diana Delano should get big kudos for bravery for playing this part!

    The usual people are here too, the sexy Latina, the monkey who justs wants to be loved, the creepy popular girls, the surf bum. Its pretty funny gags one after the other. The pacing is a little slow, but it clocks in under 80 minutes so... Oh, did I mention the Swedish bikini triplets? Worth your buck right there. Actually there isn't much sex here at Surf School, in fact Larry learns what being a man truly means. The "Twister" scene is hilarious. and yes, they do win, but didn't you figure that? This is a silly, funny flick, thats really perfect for lazy summer viewing. Tunmbs up! Oh wait thats not my thumb! Heh
  • Warning: Spoilers
    The only good thing about this movie is that it featured attractive actors and actresses. While there were a lot of "jokes," almost none of them was funny; it was just minute after minute of unbearably awful dialog and sight gags revolving around "old people shouldn't have sex."

    I might have forgiven 'Surf School' for being an awful movie, but it's also one of the few that's managed to offend me on multiple fronts. Hey, it's 2005: you don't have to make five or six references in the script to how black your black character is, complete with Affirmative Action jokes. And I just love the gay guy wearing a red bikini, lisping about all of the beautiful boys while shaking his hips and petting other dudes for an entire agonizing scene! Yeah those queers sure are hilarious, aren't they?

    But maybe the worst part of the movie was the female lead, Doris. She starts out as a pretty goth chick, who doesn't talk much and loves reading (in the movie she's reading Sylvia Platt's "The Bell Jar.") Everyone thinks she's creepy and she's restricted to background action. But toward the end of the movie she's urged to "show her support" for the boys. How does she do this? Why, by getting into a tiny bikini, seducing the "bad guy surfers," and -as a fantastic final touch- transforming herself into a blond, of course! Suddenly she's the center of attention and SO much happier! Who knew the secret to happiness was to stop reading books and whore yourself out?

    I don't mean to say there's anything wrong with sexy female characters, especially in a beach movie. In fact, the gorgeous women and men in 'Surf School' were probably the only things that kept me from killing myself while watching it. But Doris's character does a complete and inexplicable 180 from a quiet intellectual to an oversexed exhibitionist, all in order to "encourage" a bunch of dudes who (with one exception) have been avoiding her for the whole movie.

    Sorry Joel Silverman, but that's not sexy. That's creepy as hell.
  • Floated212 March 2021
    Surf School is a teen comedy but without any clever jokes and without an interesting story. It's a underdog type story with the main cast being outcasts with the audience supposed to be rooting for. This film is very stereotypical in its characters and filled with many cliches which have been done many times before in better films.

    Based on the poster, somewhat expected this to be an Asylum type film of sorts or more so like the American Pie spinoff films. First, this isn't a teen sex type comedy like those Asylum films or the American Pie spinoffs. Surf School is rather tame in comparison with only a few quick scenes of nudity being by the three foreign girls. This felt like it could have been originally PG-13 but decided to add in a few scenes of nudity to give it an R rating. In that case, the film isn't funny enough (really not funny at all. Lame jokes one involving a monkey) for a good comedy and doesn't provide enough tna for the Asylum type genre. Not to mention everything was utterly predictable and rather boring.
  • osufbf2 July 2022
    Warning: Spoilers
    Terrible in all aspects. Joel Silverman, the director, has absolutely no idea how to capture comedic moments. The camera work and angles are completely off. Silverman uses the wrong techniques and angles at the wrong times.

    The acting is horrible, as well. Laura Bell Bundy, as the hot goth girl who blossoms into a blonde beauty, has a scene where she pauses for a second, which was obvious she's trying to remember her line, and then picks up and keeps going. This was an obvious flub that needed redone but instead, Silverman kept it in there. And what's up with Miko Hughes and his constant bouncing around like a drug addicted tweaker squirming because they can't get a fix? Also, Sisqo's character is absolutely lame. Seems like he was just thrown in there to be the "token" black guy. Corey Sevier was okay but his performance didn't move the needle much for me.

    And then when it comes to the final surfing contest, they show one set of waves from each team (even though there's technically a third team, which is weird in and of itself that the high school surfing championships - which is a pathetically, generic name that seems like it was thought up by a bored 5-year-old - only had a whopping three teams in the contest and two of them are from the same school?) and the nerd is the one to surf who uses his super brain to outwit and psych out the lead jerk from the Laguna Beach A team to take home the title. The whole point of the movie is working towards the final payoff and all we see is one set of waves from each surfer? What a way to waste an entire plot of the movie by showing literally 20 seconds of surfing.

    Altogether it's a waste of time and if you run across this movie, check what's on PBS first. There should be a more riveting episode of Antiques Roadshow you could waste your time on and actually get something out of it.
  • Makes "Porky's III" Seem like "Citizen Kane" by comparison. Perhaps it would be ok playing in the background on a TV in a bar..... with the sound turned off. Lots of hard bodies in trunks and bikinis plus inserts of stock footage showing real surfers riding big waves. Ok, for that purpose it might rate one star.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    Surf school surf school so bra this was the best movie ever bra the are so hot melons and a emo hot girl but she not really emo she just wearing a wig so some reason but she really hot bra and there this virgin and he has a nice time with a monkey and 3 hot chicks bra and you also got a Japanese hot chick she in the movie for like 34 minutes but shes hot bra everybody surfs like a bra so bra watch this movie brash its the best thing ever made bra its just lose to Neil Breen movies bra so really watch this so now this review need 10 lines so i going to make a review about fateful findings so its the best movie ever made its just so good it made me cry and it changed my whole life a I've a happier person since the day a watched Neil Breen is my god and savior Brah
  • petterbenjamin20 September 2010
    Ha, You guys just don't have a sense of humor.

    Let's put it this way - the sound effects alone made me laugh, like when they play a scream every time the goth chick shows up, or the swayed sound whenever the burnt-out blond surf dude says something. I don't know there's something I just like about this movie, like it's actually a meta flick somehow, like the director is just making fun of people who make fun of this movie. It's not really a comedy at all, it's a meta comedy. And I love it.

    "Larry, you should be spanking the monkey, not dreaming about it". Come on, that's hilarious. Tacky but fun. You have to watch thousands of tacky American comedies to find one gold nugget like this that is actually funny no matter what the haters say.
  • NickyEmens18 May 2006
    I was invited to see the movie "Surf School" at it's worldwide premiere. The movie was great! I'll tell you why..

    I got a chance to meet Harland Williams. I knew who he was before, but the character he played in this movie is priceless. Now, I don't want to say he makes the entire movie, but he sure does make for some deep belly laughs. I don't care what anyone says.. bathroom humor will ALWAYS be hilarious!

    One of my other favorites in the movie is a character played by Miko Hughes.. Taz! He cracks me up throughout the movie as well. Besides comedy, this movie seems to have it all. It's got a cool, low-key love story tied into it as well as a discreet and brief look into society's issues. But nothing like history class! It has all the characters typical of any normal high school. The casting director did well finding perfect matches. Besides the perfect mis-fit fits, he picked himself a gorgeous cast.

    I also enjoyed Corey Sevier's performance in the movie. You see the many facets of his character as he portrayed them very well. Typical jock, yes. Hot? Check. But a total sweetheart. I think one of my favorite points in the movie, as far as Corey is concerned, was his "Braveheart" speech.

    It's an all around funny movie. It's sexy and goofy and creative. I heard it's coming to theaters this summer. You'll get some good laughs and leave feeling satisfied.
  • This movie is funnier than American Pie. American Pie is one of the funniest teen movies ever and this is better. I can't wait until it comes out in the theaters so I can take the kids....they will love it. I was lucky enough to be asked to screen this movie in Los Angeles and although I had to drive a few hours,in traffic,by myself,it was well worth it. Harland Williams as "Rip" is his usual funny self. Diane Delano and Taylor Negron are hilarious as the old hippies and the always beautiful Aubrie Lemon is....beautiful. I actually got to talk to Miko Hughes and Cory Sevier and they wonderful,very respectful young men. Director Joel Silverman did a fantastic job also. As an old guy I was also touched that the director invited about 10 or 12 United States Marines (injured in the Iraq war)to the screening. When he introduced them the crowd gave them a standing ovation. It was just a stomach splitting comedy followed by a wonderful gathering afterwords.
  • OK i guess most of the clowns who post here are movie snobs who can't just enjoy some silly humor. This movie probably made me laugh out loud 10 times which is more than most movies do. The surf bum from Half-Baked is freaking hilarious. When he talks about stacking onion rings on his shaft i lost it. The girls are hot as hell and there's some decent waves. I bought this and probably watch once a month and it really grows on you. It may not really be a 10 compared to the great movies but for this kind of movie it's a 10. Relax and just enjoy it for what it is which is silly fun. the topless stuff is pretty damn cool since the chicks are natural and hot.
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