“Grind” (Warner Brothers)
“Grind” is a skateboard movie. Yes, everyone over eighteen needs to know there is actually a sport of skateboarding. There are kids who spend their young years aspiring to be the best on the board. These kids will love “Grind.” Everyone else viewing it will be grind-ing their teeth.
In the film we watch four guys take to the road the summer after they graduate from high school. They are searching for a sponsor so they can become professional skateboarders. Eric (Mike Vogel) is the best on the board. Dustin (Adam Brody) has his college fund which they tap into to pay for their trip. Matt (Vince Vieluf) is the clown who is along for the ride, and Sweet Lou (Joey Kern) supplies the wheels.
These guys travel from one contest to another, never having any luck attracting a sponsor. Eric does manage to catch the eye of Jamie (Jennifer Morrison) who appears to be some type of skateboard groupie.
Vieluf plays his character of Matt like a junior grade Stiffler (“American Pie”) or Bluto (“Animal House”). The problem is those guys may have been grossly humorous but they were humorous. Matt is just gross. About ten minutes into the movie he is on your last good nerve and getting worse.
The film, which is directed by Casey La Scala, is just a series of skits stitched together with the loosest of plots. “Guest stars” such as Dave Foley, Tom Green, Christopher McDonald and Randy Quaid make brief appearances and then are gone. They add nothing and take away nothing.
The best parts of the movie of the movie are the skateboarding sequences. The real pros and the stunt doubles really make the boards fly. You have to be in awe of the athletic abilities demonstrated by them.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity and sexual innuendoes.
The title for “Grind” comes from the skateboard definition which is “scraping one or both axles of a skateboard on a curb, railing, or other surface.” See you did learn something from the movie! Better it referred to “bump and grind” or “nose to the grindstone.” But no such luck. This is a skateboard movie pure and simple, with the emphasis on simple.
If you do make it to the end of the film stick around for the outtakes which have to do with crashes on the board. These are pretty cool, and enjoyable to watch. The movie would have been better if the full ninety minutes had been this type of footage.
I scored “Grind” a skate – bored 3 out of 10.
