Local Boys (2002)

On Skeet’s twelfth birthday his older brother Randy buys him his first surfboard. Suddenly his summer turns to the endless search for the perfect wave, wild times and beach parties and eventually, finding his own daring adventures when Randy’s attention turns to a girl. Beyond his wildest dreams, Skeet is taken under the wings of surfing legend Jim Wesley who gives Skeet first-hand lessons in hot-dogging. Meanwhile, Randy, still dealing with the loss of his father and trying to fill his shoes, is jealous of Jim’s influence on Skeet and isn’t thrilled when Jim begins a relationship with their single mom. Tangled by the conflict between his brother and his newfound father figure, Skeet retreats to his room while longing to surf.

I Love It!

Ok, I personaly LOVE THIS MOVIE! I am quite the fan of Jeremy Sumpter I must admit. He was great in Peter Pan. But anyways. . .the story was spectacular. One that seems so realistic in todays world. The songs and surfing atmosphere was great! There are some really funny parts. Some of the top selling movies of today I must admit suck. But when you find movies like this one that probably barely made it to the movies deserve more credit. Great movie over all. Great music. :] September 19, 2007

Quite average

This film could have benefited from judicious editing. I'll use one example rather than list all. Randy is on the beach at night, by a fire, kissing his very new girlfriend. His friend (I don't remember his friend's name) rushes up spurting sand all around exclaiming his need to talk to Randy right away - "it's important". He tells Randy that his mother found his "stash", told his Dad, and he would probably have to go into the Marines when his Dad came home. Then he gets up and leaves. ?? That scene made no sense. Why interrupt Randy's "fun" with a dire emergency that isn't dire, only to leave fifteen seconds later? It doesn't make sense. That's something I harp on: if something doesn't make sense, either excise it or find a more appropriate place for it where it will make sense. There was a scene further in the film where Randy and his friend were discussing this same topic. Given that, I say the firelight interruption should have been excised.

Another problem was that nobody seemed to care about Jim Wesley (Mark Harmon's much older character) buddying up with 12-year old Skeet for the right reasons. We live in a rather unfortunate age where people cannot leave their children with people they don't know - we all know what I mean. Randy protested Skeet hanging out with Jim, but only for the wrong reasons.

Even with judicious editing, however, I don't feel that this film would have risen to great heights. There were problems with dialogue and interaction as well.

Fixing all of that could have made this mildly entertaining, but we'll never know.
September 7, 2006

A surprise...

I first rented this movie and didn't expect it to be very good because I had never heard of it. However, once I started watching it, I was pleasantly surprised. The story is a coming-of-age adventure where 12-year-old Skeet is interested in nothing more than surfing and hanging with his older brother, Randy. When Randy seems more interested in hanging with beach babes and his friends than teaching Skeet how to surf, the young lad must persue other learning avenues. That's when he meets Jim Wesley, who was a surfing icon back in his day. Skeet and Jim become fast friends and the young boy finds the father figure he so desperatly needs. When Randy discovers his kid brother is hanging out with an older man, he becomes concered and immediatly is very protective of his family. After losing his father and having to deal with his mother's less than stellar boyfriends, Randy isn't taking any more chances with other men hanging around his family. But Jim proves he is kind, worthy of respect, and in it for the long haul despite the pain and pressures Randy and Skeet have on their shoulders.
This is a wonderful movie. I found the story to be a little inconsistent in places, but it doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the film. Jeremy Sumpter, who plays the character of Skeet, proves to be an awesome young actor and I hope we see more of him in coming years (check him out in the newest Peter Pan movie). This film also has some great surfing footage although probably not enough to appease you hard-core surfers out there. But as a surfer myself, I found it to be lots of fun to watch. Check out Local Boys! You won't regret it. June 26, 2006

local boys

from start to finish this movie was excellent. Jeremy Sumpter was best actor thru the entire movie, all others had a good supporting role and the story line was great thru-out the movie. Very good surfing movie. Mark Harmon was a great dad in the end of the movie. A very good ending. Great family move to watch over and over. Make you dream of your child hood dreams. this movie is totaly awesome, A MUST SEE!!!!! August 12, 2005

Very Entertaining

I like surf movies but find very few of good quality. If you want great surf scenes, watch the documentaries like Step into Liquid. But this movie combines an easy to follow plot with exceptional Southern California surfing. For the hard core surfers there won't be enough surf scenes. But for movie viewers who want surf action, you'll be quite pleased. A vast improvement over Big Wednesday IMO but not up to Blue Crush which I think has the greatest scenes from a nondocumentary.

But this is a movie with quality actors that is story driven and reminded me of growing up near the ocean with my brother that is the real treat here. Yes, they have more problems with tragic deaths in two families but they also have plenty of attractive people to fill the screen. In particular, the love interest of Randy adds quite a bit to the scenery.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie even though the plot is predictable. The actors are fine and it's a great story with a great conclusion. I recommend it for light family fare and for those looking for quality surf action.
August 25, 2004

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