UncleLongHair2
When you think of Hawaii you think of resorts, surfing, TV shows, etc. but this movie shows you the seedy underbelly that everyone knows is there but nobody talks about. Washed up blue collar families, dead ends, petty rivalries, gangs, desperate people on the dole, too much pot and booze, and a chance to escape that never materializes.It'd hard to watch people make bad choices but the self-destructiveness is all too understandable and while you want them to make better decisions you can see why they don't. I thought the characters, families, and plots really resonated, and were rendered with intense realism even while being far from uplifting. I thought the Hawaiian background was very true to life and not what you normally see.While the acting was raw and amateurish I thought it was very powerful in that it depicted how real people would probably behave under the circumstances. The plot twist mentioned in the summary was a little awkward but served to give the story more meaning from a racial and equality perspective.Overall I feel like I found a hidden gem on Netflix and am glad to have watched it.
Eddie_weinbauer
I wanted to see this, because I wondered if Scott Eastwood was half as good as he's dad.Sadly No.OR at least not yet. The movie centers around a white-trash pot smoking surfing family,and some pothead surfers.The two guys the movie is suppose to center around comes off as uninteresting,one dimensional and boring. They act like two immature douche bags who never grew up. (They remind me of the kids from high school, who you just knew would never really grow out of the whole life's a party phase.)You can't really be bothered caring about them,cause there's no everyday life,there's nothing there to identify with. They surf and smoke pot,that's it! That's all they doWhat was suppose to be the main plot, seem to be that this really great surfer kid,is getting killed because he mess around with an ex girlfriend,who now is dating a gang banger.So he's older brother get into a fight for him with said gang- banger,so he's little brother can hook up with he's ex again. Than he go ahead dumps her a few days later on a party,he's mother even helps him. By this part of the movie I'd all ready stopped caring about any of them.Jeff Fahey is suppose to be some guru, I think.You never see him surf though,only carrying a surf board The problem is there's no forward momentum in the story.You feel its just some random stuff put together.
clibetta
I was skeptical at the beginning but this movie kept me hooked. The story is simple but engaging and the actors are really good, starting from Scott Eastwood (really like the father !) and Kim Matula, convincing small timer cutie. What was more interesting was the overall evolution of the story and the analysis of the characters...normal people with weaknesses and an average interesting life.Overall is worth watching : do not expect fireworks or much action. Is a simple and fair movie, well written and directed and it's a good proof of most of the actors.
MadameMim
The movie was really bad, the acting was horrible and the story, well , it sucked. I wouldn't recommend anyone to see this movie.I'm honestly surprised it has a 6,4 rating, saying that, it's 19 users that have rated it. Nothing felt real between the actors, the lines where at times useless, as in I think the writers needed to fill in something so they just wrote whatever into the script. After the first 10 minutes I knew it was not going to be a good movie. It's a bit of a shame because it could have been a good movie, IF it had been written with better dialogs and a better cast. So, no I would recommend that you choose another movie to see. There are better movies to spend time watching then this one.