Fluke_Skywalker Plot; A young pre-law student from the Midwest (C. Thomas Howell) spends the Summer in L.A. working for his Uncle's firm.While serving an eviction notice, he meets a washed up beach volleyball player (Peter Horton), forming an unlikely friendship that eventually leads to the two of them entering a high stakes beach volleyball tournament.'Side Out' is insultingly contrived--even for the genre--and beyond stupid. Its limited appeal lies in the trappings of its era (released in 1990, but a total 80s movie through and through) and whatever charm its game cast can scrape from the bottom of its barrel.

cthomashowellisgod Seriously, if you want to learn the meaning of life, one man holds the answers - C. Thomas Howell.His embodiment of Monroe Clark is Christ-like without ever being obvious - we see his divinity in the way he sympathizes with Zach Barnes' financial plight, giving him communion through his generous offer to play volleyball with him. No other living actor could have captured the holiness and generosity of this basketball player turned lawyer turned volleyball pro from Milwaukee with such nuance and yet, such gusto. Holding hands high with Barnes at the end he evoked that incredible sense of pride, pity, and ultimately, hilarity that one gets when one sees a retard so proud of his Special Olympics participation ribbon.This movie is an absolute delight. Deserving of its place in the canon of all-time great works of art.

SleeperVB This is one of those movies that I came across on HBO one night and although I did not "Hate" the movie I did think it had the possibility to be much better.The movie is basically about a businessman (Monroe) who takes up volleyball and eventually wins the final tournament to become the world champion. I admit it is kind of a weak storyline but not all respectable movies have great storylines.My basic problem with the movie was the shot selection. To me, being a respectable volleyball player both indoors and in the sand, much of the action scenes brought laughter to me. It is almost as if this movie pretty much ruled out Hollywoods desire to create a good volleyball movie. Basically, the movie is not horrible by any means but could have been much better with better direction (no offense to Peter Israelson). I just hope Hollywood will overlook this production and give the sport another chance on the big screen with the growing popularity.Overall: 4/10

tfrizzell A film about beach volleyball players in California. Do I need to continue? A near total waste as second-rate actors C. Thomas Howell and Peter Horton compete in volleyball tournaments all summer. Howell is a law student who came to California for a summer job but ends up going after good-looking women and spiking volleyballs over the net instead. A really sophomoric film that feels like it was submitted by a group of dumb teenagers that had nothing else better to do. Some very attractive women in swimsuits are the only real attractions here. That is not near enough to make "Side Out" anything more than a long advertisement for its sport. 2 stars out of 5.