Wet and Wild

I really enjoyed this film. Exotic locations, light comedy cleverly played by the principal actors (especially Elliott Gould) and stunning photography. Wet N Wild Summer as it was called here is the story of a big multi national developer(Elliott Gould) being conned by a devious wife (Lois Larimore) who wants him to buy up beach front land in Australia. Elliots son (Christopher Atkins) in on the deal, decides to move to Australia undercover on an Exchange Lifeguard program to do the deal. When he arrives, he meets the chief lifeguard (Julian McMahon) who is trying to save the surf-club from these devious developers. The film takes a u turn and when Atkins meets a female lifeguard and falls in love, but he is caught between a rock and a hard place re his agenda. I put this film in the same category as Muriels Wedding, where the characters are so funny and sometimes over the top make you want to go and live there.

This is the kind of movie that shouldn't have been made after the '80s. It had already been done to death and doesn't offer anything new.

Poor actor extraordinare Christopher Atkins is Bobby, the son of a real estate developer. His father, Mike, is played by Elliot Gould. Mike's company has plans to build a high-rise on a beach in Australia. Bobby goes down to Australia to make sure things go smoothly.

If you have watched movies before then you probably could guess what happens. The locals don't want some developer coming in and ruining their beach community. Bobby falls for one of the local women. He slowly comes around and helps them to fight the development.

How many movies can be made like this? It seems like an infinite number. This movie has no substantial humor, no romance, no compelling story. All it offers the viewer are some nice bodies to look at running around in various stages of undress. However, even that has been done much better before.

As might be deduced from its title, this film isn't to be taken too seriously, though it remains to be seen if it can be called a comedy. The theme is well-worn though usually featured in more serious circumstances, an evil capitalist is intent on building a shopping centre, an industrial park, or in this case a leisure resort, at the expense of the locals, but has a change of heart. There is a slight variation here because the owner of the corporation is away with the fairies (being slowly poisoned by his second wife and her paramour) while his son is sent half way across the world undercover, sort of.

The bottom line is that the bad guys are thwarted, the development goes ahead, albeit with major changes, and they all live happily ever after. The soundtrack isn't bad, and the casual nudity probably wouldn't offend your grandmother in this day and age.