Surfer, Dude - Surfer Dude

Longboarding soul surfer Steve Addington (Matthew McConaughey) returns to Malibu to spend his summer surfing his home break. But the waves go flat, and his sponsorship deal turns south. Aided by his manager (Woody Harrelson), his mentor (Scott Glenn), his guardian angel (Willie Nelson), and his summer lover (Alexie Gilmore), Addington has a chance of keeping his cool, but it’s not going to be easy. The dude needs a wave, and there’s never been a drought like this.

Special Features:
Surfer, Dude: The Real Story featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes footage
Deleted Scenes
The Complete Surfer, Dude 12-Webisode Series
Audio Commentary with Matthew McConaughey

It’s hard to say just what the target audience for Surfer, Dude is. Maybe surfers--except that since the storyline involves one of the longest big wave droughts in Malibu history, there’s actually precious little surfing to be seen. Probably stoners--not only does the cast include noted herbivores Willie Nelson and Woody Harrelson, but many of the rest of the actors are rarely, if ever, seen without a joint dangling from their mouths. Definitely Matthew McConaughey fans, especially the female kind--as pro surfer icon Steve Addington, McConaughey spends approximately 99% of the movie shirtless. Slight but entertaining, director/co-writer S.R. Bindler’s film finds Addington returning to SoCal following a six-month surfing tour of the world. He soon finds out that things have changed. He still has his manager (Harrelson), but smarmy new sponsor Eddie Zarno (Jeffrey Nordling) wants Steve to appear in a reality TV show and be the model for “Free Surfer,” Zarno’s new “first person immersion video game.” But Steve’s not into it, brah. All he wants to do is surf, get high, and chase women, but when the former dries up for months on end, he decides to forego the other two until the waves return. Meanwhile, the dastardly Zarno re-edits some interview footage to make Addington look bad, whereupon Zarno’s cute East Coast assistant (Alexie Gilmore) quits and takes up with Steve, who plots (sort of) his revenge against the bad guy. It’s all pretty flimsy, occasionally amusing, filled with soft-core female nudity and, you know, like, stoked. --Sam Graham

Stills from Surfer, Dude (Click for larger image)

Beyond Surfer, Dude

Surfer, Dude + Digital Copy [Blu-ray]

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