This movie isn't going to win best picture anytime soon, but short of "Dirty Dancing" this might be the best fun summer romance there is. It's one of those stories that lets you spend time with several female archetypes: The Bad Girl, The "Fat" Girl ready to come into her own, The Goody-Two-Shoes/Nerd and The Dutiful Pretty Girl. While this may seem cheesy, it's a structure that's been working since Jane Austen gave us Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia Bennett. Women enjoy trying on various identities vicariously, and (to move back into the future) we all have a little bit of Carrie and Samantha in us. Of the actresses in this movie only two have much name recognition - Bridget Fonda's delicious bad girl and Phoebe Cates' debutante about to marry the wrong man. But all the actors suit the tone and contents of the movie, and it ends up feeling realistic, if only because this particular formula - the summer fling on vacation - is something that often happens in real life. This movie is a joy to watch for its Myrtle Beach period location, its sexy but not explicit romance, and, of course, the titular dancing of the shag. Download it with your girlfriends and have a fantastic slumber party.
Review of Shag
