Hardbodies 2

This film was produced and released as a successor to a ghastly - although fairly popular - slapstick Californian beach comedy called Hardbodies, but it has little or no connection with the earlier film and is better assessed completely in its own right. It is certainly better than Hardbodies I, and is more closely related to films such as Venus and Summer Lovers which were also filmed during summer in the Greek Islands. The combination of blissful beaches on blue bays with beautiful bare bosoms makes for seductive viewing, but (except for travelogues just designed to help plan your next holiday) even such films require an adequate story line if they are to hold a viewers attention for more than a very few minutes. Venus was underpinned by the legend of the re-incarnation of the goddess, and Summer Lovers had the viability of a "menage a trois" as its theme. In my view both these films were much more successful than Hardbodies II which has a very tenuous story line and depends too much on simplistic semi-slapstick comedy. The use of slapstick quickly becomes tedious, it usually leads to a series of very short self contained cameo sequences that are hard to integrate into an ongoing story line. Mel Brooks achieved this brilliantly with Silent Movie, but few other films have succeeded in the same way, and Hardbodies II unfortunately does not. There is also the problem that the slapstick sequences do not co-habit happily with the idyllic and peaceful scenario in which the film is set. The final airport sequences were no doubt intended to provide a hilarious ending for this film but in my opinion they are an example of the worst type of overplayed slapstick pseudo-comedy. They are also grossly overlong, so I left the cinema with a bad taste left in my mouth. This is a film which could have been much more successful with a stronger story line and with most of its slapstick sequences very heavily pruned. As it was released it certainly does not warrant a viewers rating higher than 3.

There is little memorable in the acting, but the cast does its best within the limitations imposed by a meagre story line and poor direction - it is in these latter areas that the failure arises.

I normally consider myself a bit of a tough guy when it comes to enduring bad movies. Somewhat in the way alcoholics build up a tolerance to hard liquor, I have a thick skin against terrible cinema provided there are at least a few redeeming moments. Inspired by nostalgia for late night cable TV, the only way to see nudity and real debauchery as a kid in the '80s, I decided to watch this wreck on an ultra cheap DVD. But it hit me a Mike Tyson (circa 1987) uppercut. I couldn't watch all of it. It's THAT bad. And I can enjoy basically any CANNON GROUP production (horrid cheeseball '80s action producers) ever made! A much better movie that accomplishes somewhat of what they were trying to do here is Summer Lovers featuring a very young Daryl Hannah. Or the original and much better Harbodies.

The entire premise of these '80s airhead summer teen sex movies is naked flesh, but at least some of them had a certain level of comedy or sexiness. But nothing here is funny, or particularly sexy. Brenda Bakke is absolutely stunning, but no one gets to do anything worthwhile because the movie is a failure from start to finish. I guess simply admiring her beauty is worth something (and most starlets did not have fake body parts back then, which is very refreshing). But overall, life is too short to watch movies like this. Or review them. Hey wait.....I just wasted.....uhh THE END.

The original "Hardbodies" is distinguishable from other '80s boob comedies by the fact that it is 1. actually watchable, and 2. has more nudity than perhaps any of the others.

True to form, "Hardbodies 2" features many bare breasts just in its opening credit sequence.

The movie boasts one beautiful starlet in a lead role, the apparently brainless girlfriend of the generic protagonist. She has a beautiful, expressive face.

The scenes that depict the filming of the movie-within-a-movie are unconvincing and unnecessary.

The nudity also starts to decrease as the movie goes on.

I'd be lying if I said my interest also decreased; I was never that interested. You don't see an '80s b-movie sex comedy - and a sequel to another one, no less - expecting a masterpiece. I just wish they'd kept up the nudity throughout the whole movie. That would have given me a reason to watch, and given the movie some notoriety. The plot with the movie being filmed is completely worthless.

When I was 9, about the time this movie came out, I spent a lot of time at the neighborhood pool. While checking out some local hardbodies and doing cannonballs, I overheard some goofball saying to his friends, "You know what 'hardbodies' means? Good Sex." I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now. I had often seen the VHS case for the original "Hardbodies" in the video store, and I had always understood, mainly from the information given by this video cover, what "Hardbodies" meant.That being a collection of sunny, beach side scenes of young, firm, hot, easy girls in bikinis --and the dorks they were involved with. I never actually saw the movie.

Tonight, Encore Love played Hardbodies 2, and with nothing else remotely interesting to do, I put it on the TV whilst surfing the net. This movie is, in fact, despite what the first commentator claims, "a typical jiggle and giggle fest from the 80's." But that's not a bad thing. This is perfect summer fodder, it's straight to video schlock that you wouldn't pay 5$ for the DVD of, but as a late night cable movie, it works on the most repulsive level: it's only a notch above LCD, and at that only because it features sunny beach side scenes of young, firm, hot, easy girls in bikinis--and out of them. Whatever.

It does feature the girl who played the foreign exchange student in "Summer School", Fabiana Udenio. She gets quit a bit of screen time in this one, as the female lead/ romantic interest. She does well, given the script, but her accent and her latina hotness land the type-cast role. Her boobs are not featured, unfortunately.

Anyway, it's better than Weekend at Bernie's(1989), though nowhere near it's contemporary, Savage Steve Holland's One Crazy Summer(1986). I can't believe I just wasted ten minutes of my life writing this.

Hardbodies 2 was a bad idea. A sequel to a movie that's really not a sequel. Huh? I felt just like the audience. But I have to mention that Brenda Bakke is really hot. If you must, watch the first half hour and forget the rest. Stupid movie with bad clueless actors, boring direction and lame dialogue. Skip this movie unless you're a die hard Brenda Bakke fan. For masochists only D+