The Malibu Bikini Shop

This is it! I just can't believe that people don't like this movie. Whenever I'm sad, I watch it and it always cheers me up. And by the way, the music is great. The closing song is my favorite. Though I'm a hip-hop fan I really like it. If I see the movie in the morning I can't get it out of my head til late afternoon. And it's always enjoying to see all these palms and sunny beaches. And the mood is so right :)) And even the fact that people are getting old and this movie reminds them of what they won't ever have again is not enough. If you want to see a drama, go and see "Titanic". If you want to see many special effects, go and see "Star Wars", but if you want to see a funny movie full with sun and smiles, go and see "Malibu Bikini Shop" because I really think that young people will enjoy it.

It was at my next-door neighbours house that I first saw "The Bikini Shop," I was eight years old and very grateful. Tonight, some 14 years later I was reminded of the movie, when dinner conversation turned to two way mirrors.

To my surprise the local video store still had a copy so I forked out my hard earned $2 for the weekly and re-lived the glory of poor writing, bad lighting, over acting and no name talent all in the name of BOOBIES!.

The story is that ancient old one of, boy meets girl - boy runs a bikini shop his late aunty has left him - boy wins over girl. Throw in a baddie, an old flame he is trying to be rid of, a rambunctious brother and some trippy dream sequences and you have 90 minutes of a flimsy story line standing in the way of the meaning of life for most fellas - naked women.

LOng before he would make a name for himself in films like "The Great Hereafter"."Double Jeopardy" and "Thirteen Days",handsome Canadian actor Bruce Greenwood was in this perpetual boner on celluloid. He plays the easygoing,beer-guzzling beach bum who co-owns the titular shop with his upright,uptight brother(Michael David Wright,anyone know where he went?)after their dear Aunt passes on,leaving the store to them in her will(likely? You betcha!). Of course,nearly everybody in this film is a nobody(Save for long-running lounge and TV variety act impresario Charlie Brill,in a bit part),and the film is entirely motorized on the presence of sexy,scantily clad women who may or may not be taking' it all off over the course of the film. THink "HArdbodies" with a slightly less misogynistic tone. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit when I was a teen(take a wild guess as to why),and while I probably haven't had a look at this film since the early nineties,I saw it enough times that I can practically count all the scenes of nudity(and recall them in loving slow-mo!)that occurred and which ones I liked the best(a scene involving a two-way mirror and a proportionately perfect,LAnders-sister-looking model was my favorite). i would say that if you've rarely if ever seen naked women before,or are under the age of eighteen,you'll enjoy this film immensely. To anyone else--and assuming you'd have the patience to sit through this!--I'd say,understand that this whole film is a device and accept it for what it is: a pure,brainless '80s sex movie featuring an up-and-coming actor who'd probably like to forget he'd ever agreed to do it. Well,Bruce,just repeat to yourself:it was experience and I needed the money.

"Alan" (Michael David Wright) has just graduated from Northern Chicago University when he learns that his aunt has passed away and left him an inheritance. Curious to discover what he has inherited he heads out to Malibu with the intention of selling his new property and getting back to Chicago to be with his extremely spoiled fiancé, "Jane" (Debra Blee). However, when he gets there he finds that all he is left with is 51% of a bikini shop which is heavily in debt. He also discovers that the other 49% belongs to his brother "Todd" (Bruce Greenwood) who loves to party and has no business skills at all. In addition to that, he has 3 female employees named "Kathy" (Ami Julius), "Cindy" (Gayln Gorg) and "Ronnie" (Barbara Horan) who depend on the bikini shop to make ends meet. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that this could have been an okay "bikini movie" if it had better comedy and a less predictable plot. Be that as it may, I thought the acting was adequate enough for the job at hand and having some attractive ladies certainly helped to a degree. That being said, although there are certainly better movies of this type out there, this one wasn't too bad overall and for that reason I rate it as just slightly below average.

This film most definitely belongs in the so-bad-it's-almost-good category. Very much a product of its time (1985), the hairstyles, fashions and soundtrack songs are hysterical to those of us who were fortunate (?!) enough to grow up in the 80s. There are embarrassing dance sequences, bikinis that are testament to the aerobics craze - and of course there's lots of flesh on display. Hmmm, must be a guy thing... Bruce Greenwood is the only actor in the cast who has moved on to bigger and better things - I bet a clip of this will come to haunt him one day on The Tonight Show!