After Country Comfort, my next foray into the works of Ricardo Hurtado led me to Malibu Rescue (2019), a pilot for a tv series on Nickelodeon. I went in with some trepidation: most teen movies are heteronormative, with all adolescent passions and intrigues omitted in favor of "Girls are the meaning of life! If we win this race (or whatever the Maguffin is), we'll get Girls!"
But Savage Steve Holland's movies tend to go easy on the girl-craziness, so I gave it a try.
In the middle-class San Fernando Vally, teen operator Tyler (Ricardo Hurtado) plays one too many pranks, and as punishment, is assigned Junior Lifeguard Training. I'd rather be saved by someone with an interest in lifeguarding, not a high school kid on detention.
In the middle-class San Fernando Vally, teen operator Tyler (Ricardo Hurtado) plays one too many pranks, and as punishment, is assigned Junior Lifeguard Training. I'd rather be saved by someone with an interest in lifeguarding, not a high school kid on detention.
The training will take place in Malibu, home of ultra-rich, bullying snobs.This will become important later.
Tyler's fellow Valley Kid trainees, The Flounders, are woefully unprepared. Have they ever actually seen a beach before? They include two girls and the nerd Eric (Alkoya Brunson, who has beefed up since 2017). Their trainer is a blond lady. Not much beefcake potential so far.
Meanwhile, the rich townie snobs look down on Valley kids, and resent their intrusion into "our beach." They include Tower Captains Brody (J.T. Neal, left) and Spencer (Cameron Engels).
Plus Garvin (Ian Ziering), the program director, hates Valley kids, and invited the Flounders just so they would fail the training and get ridiculed.
So it's on, nerds vs. jocks in a battle royale to see who gets to become real Junior Lifeguards. Wait -- do they really choose lifeguards via team competitions?
There is, indeed, a pleasant lack of heterosexual interest. No one gawks at any girl, even for an instant. There is no Girl of His Dreams for Tyler to pursue, nor a Girl Next Door Who Supported Him All Along for him to end up with. (There's heterosexual romance in the tv series.
However, there are no gay subtexts, either. Tyler appears to have no friends. There is no buddy-bonding, anywhere.
And a surprising lack of beefcake. This is a beach. These are lifeguards. Where are the muscular physiques?
Every guy on the beach, child, teenager, or adult, lifeguard, junior lifeguard, or civilian -- every guy -- wears a t-shirt and shorts. Even in crowd scenes.
Have you ever heard of a beach where no male chests on display? It's like the 1930s, when taking off your shirt in public would get you a citation for public indecency.
Ricardo Hurtado takes off his shirt exactly once, in a rescue scene where you can't see anything.
The lack of girl craziness is nice, but sometimes you need a little more than that.
My grade: D.
So it's on, nerds vs. jocks in a battle royale to see who gets to become real Junior Lifeguards. Wait -- do they really choose lifeguards via team competitions?
There is, indeed, a pleasant lack of heterosexual interest. No one gawks at any girl, even for an instant. There is no Girl of His Dreams for Tyler to pursue, nor a Girl Next Door Who Supported Him All Along for him to end up with. (There's heterosexual romance in the tv series.
However, there are no gay subtexts, either. Tyler appears to have no friends. There is no buddy-bonding, anywhere.
And a surprising lack of beefcake. This is a beach. These are lifeguards. Where are the muscular physiques?
Every guy on the beach, child, teenager, or adult, lifeguard, junior lifeguard, or civilian -- every guy -- wears a t-shirt and shorts. Even in crowd scenes.
Have you ever heard of a beach where no male chests on display? It's like the 1930s, when taking off your shirt in public would get you a citation for public indecency.
The lack of girl craziness is nice, but sometimes you need a little more than that.
My grade: D.
Bonus: Real life guards, or at least guys from California, after the break.