Lauderdale

Parts of it were filmed in Ft. Lauderdale. In the beginning of the film is a conga line scene on the beach composed of extras who were local to the area. My wife lived there when she was 18 (10 years before I met her) and she is in this scene -- she is the last one they show and the only one who defied the instructions about not looking into the camera. So, here it is, YEARS later and she mentions to me that she MIGHT have been in a movie called Spring Break 2 -- long story short, I track the movie down under its new title and there she is. Totally uncredited and in the shot for about 1/3 of a second. So, the best part about this film is that I get to tell people that my wife made a movie with Ron Jeremy when she was a teenager. The fact that she did not even know that he is in the movie doesn't matter. The look on her face is priceless.

There ought to be a MST3K-type show that shows these cheap, racy, knock-off spring-break movies. This particular show is one of my favorites because I was going to Nova University in Ft. Lauderdale when this movie was filmed. City Limits is an actual club, and the actual house band appeared in the movie. The best scene is the shot of "star" Janine Lindemulder (she appeared in Penthouse and now does porn) jamming with Frank Vocale and the band (nice hair, Frank!). They then cut to the next scene of a bar in the club, the music still playing in the background . . . and the band members are sitting at the bar having a drink!!

This totally mindless film is a combination of a road movie, sex comedy, beach movie and crime comedy but despite all that it is generic lowest common denominator entertainment all the way. Despite the title, the action only gets to the beach resort Lauderdale - which is like an American version of Ayia Napa - for the last half hour of the runtime. The rest involves a missing girl, deeply moronic criminals and a road trip cross country. There is lots of dumb humour, beach babes and upbeat music from the never-popular Rebel Pebbles (a poor man's Go-Go's). The protagonists are full-on stereotypes - the nerdy guy, his clinically obese and out of control party animal best friend, the dream girl and the down-to-earth girl who our nerd ultimately realises he is actually in love with. Its barely got a functioning script and is generally quite intelligence-free, yet it is so relentlessly generic and commercial in its outlook that I did find it - relatively - entertaining.

Here is another tedious teen sex "comedy" outing, in which you don't believe in or care about any of the activity on screen, and the scant nudity is not nearly enough to warrant sitting through this mess.

To give you an idea of the level of humour involved, the movie features two moronic criminals named Dick and Duke Dork, aka. the Dork brothers. This is the pinnacle of comedy the movie reaches; it is hard to say if these character names are the funniest part of the movie, since I can't really remember any other attempts at humour throughout the hour and a half runtime. These movies generally are only "comedies" in name only, and Spring Fever USA/Lauderdale/whatever other names it was released under is a grand example of that.

It is also a road movie, and perhaps the most tedious road movie I've ever seen. These scenes are handled by showing the hero's vehicle driving toward the camera with signs flashing by on the screen. Occasionally this is interrupted by the characters entering a different surf shop, each staffed by a girl in a bikini, asking if they're going in the right direction. Then they get back in the car, continue driving toward the camera, and more road signs are superimposed over the screen.

The hero is apparently chasing after the "girl of his dreams", a babe so tall and masculine-featured I was sure we were going to get that other staple of teen sex comedy: a hero so horny he doesn't realise his dreamboat is actually male. She may not be male, but she is a moron, dumb enough to lead the hero on his grand chase after he rescues her from the Dorks. He's not alone however: another girl joins him on the chase, though I never really understood her purpose for being there aside from the obvious forced happy ending in which he realises who amongst them he really cares for.

At one point, when he actually reaches Fort Lauderdale (it takes a long, long time for this point to arrive, but in some places the movie was released as "Lauderdale"), the hero will get information or whatever he needs to reach the GohD, but first he has to win this information in... a belly flop competition! Thus we are treated to the sight of fat men jumping belly-first into a swimming pool repeatedly, as if this were somehow entertaining. The hero, of course, wins, by jumping from such a height he would certainly at least break his neck. Unfortunately, he doesn't, and the movie continues.

There are many tall, mannish blonde women in this movie, and most of the breasts glimpsed are of the '80s, pasty white tan-line variety. Ron Jeremy makes an appearance as a robber in a liquor store. So I guess the only people you could recommend this movie to would be Ron Jeremy completists? They must exist somewhere. I only hope I never meet them.

"Larry Wilson" (Darrel Guilbeau) is a student at UCLA who is serious about his studies but also happens to be in search for the perfect woman. His buddy "Animal" (Jeff Greenman) is also a student but his main interest is partying. One day Larry and Animal happen to meet "Heather Lipton" (Janine Lindemulder) and Larry falls head over heals for her. Suddenly out of nowhere two thugs try to kidnap her but she manages to escape when both Larry and Animal come to her rescue. What results is a mad dash from one state to another as both Larry and one of Heather's associates named "Jane Beaumont" (Michelle Kemp) try to track down Heather who is being chased by the same two thugs led by a young woman named "Rachel Thorne" (Lara Belmonte). Now rather than reveal any more about this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that it had some good points and some bad points. For starters all three ladies just mentioned were quite attractive and certainly lent some nice scenery to the screen. Likewise, there were plenty of other young women in bikinis to help out as well. However, the plot meandered all over the place and there really wasn't much else to this movie. The comedy wasn't that sharp and everything else was rather predictable. That said this is one of those films where you have to turn off your brain and just appreciate the sight of gorgeous women frolicking in their swimsuits. Even so that isn't quite enough for me to rate this movie any higher than I have. Slightly below average.