This is a spoof of the 60's beach party movies. Florence Forrest (Lauren Ambrose) is at the drive-in movie with best friend Berdine. Florence doesn't feel like having a boyfriend like every other girl and she has bouts of disassociated anger. Berdine discovers a murdered girl and police captain Monica Stark investigates. Lars is the Swedish exchange student living with Florence and her mother Ruth (Beth Broderick). Wheelchair-bound Rhonda (Kathleen Robertson) is mean-spirited. Marvel Ann (Amy Adams) falls for lead surfer Starcat (Nicholas Brendon) and brings Florence and Berdine to Malibu Beach. Florence becomes fascinated with surfing but the boys laugh at the idea of a girl surfer. She turns into the aggressive hyper-sexual Ann Bowman and scares local surfing guru Great Kanaka (Thomas Gibson) into teaching her. She gains the nickname Chicklet. B-movie actress Bettina Barnes (Kimberley Davies) is living in the supposed-haunted beach house. The murders continue and Florence keeps switching to Ann Bowman.
This is a deliberate broad wacky spoof. There is fun about being on the beach but there is also an aspect of trying too hard. It doesn't always come off as funny. Lauren Ambrose and Amy Adams are terrific. The actors are generally good but Thomas Gibson does not fit as a surfing guru. He sticks out like a sore thumb on the beach. His character goes off in a crazy direction but it would be funnier with someone else with more comedic potential. This is all very wacky but it's not very funny.
This is a deliberate broad wacky spoof. There is fun about being on the beach but there is also an aspect of trying too hard. It doesn't always come off as funny. Lauren Ambrose and Amy Adams are terrific. The actors are generally good but Thomas Gibson does not fit as a surfing guru. He sticks out like a sore thumb on the beach. His character goes off in a crazy direction but it would be funnier with someone else with more comedic potential. This is all very wacky but it's not very funny.