Starring: Mike Vogel, Vince Vieluf, Adam Brody, Joey Kern, Jennifer Morrison (II) Directed By: Casey La Scala Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: January 27, 2004 Running Time: 105 minutes Theatrical Release Date: August 15, 2003
Product Description: A hilarious road trip comedy. Four skaters follow the summer tour of a skateboard star pulling tricks and tearing it up in their wild attempts to get noticed and grab a sponsor.Running Time: 104 min.System Requirements:Running Time 104 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 085392468225
Five or some years ago, I declared that this movie would suck and as far as I was concerned, it did. I hadn't watched a sport related film since "Airborn" (with my second eldest brother), the Disney Channel Original Movie, "Brink!", and "The Lords of Dogtown" last year. None of them were my favorite movies, but my siblings favorites, though I enjoyed them all the same during the times I watched them. So when I "dared to be stupid" and decided to watch "Grind", I expected to be doing a lot of face palming and just enjoying the scenery that was the then-newcomer, Mike Vogel. But to my surprise this film manages to excel above the corniness or heavy melodrama that occupies the aforementioned films.
Eric Rivers (Mike Vogel), who has recently graduated high school, aspires to become a professional skateboarder -- up there with the likes of Jimmy Wilson, his idol. But with no one willing to sponsor him or his friends, this dream is as close to coming true as his prospects of escaping work with his father in a Hardware store. However, he hardly allows this to deter him and one day he proposes the idea of following Jimmy Wilson's tour across the country to his friends Dustin Knight (Adam Brody) and Matt Jensen (Vince Vieluf). At first, they are apprehensive as they're perfectly comfortable in their current niches and Dustin is determined to work his overtime to pay his way to collage. However, with a little more convincing Eric manages to recruit them and the eldest of his friends, Sweet Lou Singer (Joey Kern) who decides to join them after a learning one of his "high-school sweethearts" tells her father about him. Once on the road, the "Super Duper Skates" run into more problems and failures than successes and begin wonder if their road trip was such a good idea after all.
Grind is an adventure/comedy in its simplest form; the idea of watching four teenage boys (or three, excluding Sweet Lou) ride around in a rusty old van chasing a skateboarder's tour bus, hardly sounds like a interesting way to spend your hour, at first. But watching the concept in motion was actually pretty fun. The actors do really great jobs of bringing the personalities of their assigned characters to life. They don't fall into a random stereotype that one could peg very easily. Granted, there's a clown in the form of Vieluf's Matt, a dreamer in Vogel's Eric, the academic in Brody's Dustin, and the stoner-esque slacker in Kern's Lou, but they all manage to become more than their suspected labels.
I think my favorite character besides Eric Rivers, was Sweet Lou Singer. The writer must've watched "Dazed and Confused", because Sweet Lou emulates a lot of what I saw in Matthew McConaughey in the aforementioned film. The only thing that was missing was the drug element. One negative in relation to characters that seemed forgetful and rather needless in the grand scheme of things (until that one moment), was Jennifer Morrison as Jamie. Morrison makes small appearances throughout the film, and somehow serves a love-interest for Eric Rivers, yet her character hardly has any interaction with the characters until the end of the movie. Her sudden romantic relationship with Mike Vogel's character was simply unbelievable. Literally.
A lot of the time the humor in the film is crude and flat out gross, just like something a gaggle of boys would find amusing, but it never falls flat and actually made me laugh out loud. The only negatives of this film that I can think of, is that the "story" is easily forgotten as you get swept up in watching the skate boarding sequences, or just watching the four young men get their asses handed to them time and again whilst out in the wide blue countryside. I got so caught up in their road-trip I tended to forget where they were headed.
Also, my knowledge on the skateboarding sport beyond just riding a board and not falling down is very limited. To add onto that, I didn't know any of the names of mentioned in this film, so beyond the actor cameos, the famous skaters were something I never noticed. Everyone that wasn't one of the main characters were just extras in the background to me. The soundtrack is compiled of music that was pretty popular back in 2003 or 2000, featuring the likes of Shinedown, Trapt, and Billy Talent among others. However, there is one moment of "score" during a scene shared between Matt and his enstranged family, which made me roll my eyes in embarssment. Thankfully it stops as abruptly as it began.
The overall acting in this movie was excellent; I really don't expect anything above average or mediocre in terms of acting when it comes to movies like this. But the acting was really good, to repeat myself. The then-newcomer Mike Vogel performed nicely in his role and was flat out adorable to boot. Adam Brody (an actor I tend to get confused with Tom Hanks' son, Colin Hanks. Don't ask) as the sensible Dustin Knight creates a likeable nerd character that isn't an overbearing on the moral compass when concerned with acedemics and his future. Vince Vieluf pretty much plays the same wackey character he played in Rat Race without the strange speech pattern and dumb-giant personality. Joey Kern's performance as Sweet Lou was probably the most interesting; He played it with such ease, it was hard not to buy this character. Overall, Grind is a really entertaining movie. Its nothing innovative, but you just have a good time watching it. --- [a 4 out of 5]
Best movie ever Grind is funny and charming. It relates to kids who have just finished high school. It's a movie about chasing your dreams and having fun while your doing it. Anyone who likes skateboarding and teen movies should see this film. Plus, Adam Brody and Mike Vogel are really hot!
This movie ROX This movie rox, and for you loser who said "I don't even think skateboarders would like this movie," you are beyond wrong because I am a skateboarder and I think it is funny and rox. I would recommend it for anyone into skateboarding and comedy.
Fun Movie Im young, and I watch this movie every summer with my friends. Just a good time movie.
great movie... This is a funny movie I think its great for young boys who like to skate...
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tony's Online Tips
Trevor
