McConaugheMay Day 28: Surfer, Dude

Lord help me, this is the third time I’ve seen this. I had originally planned to end the month with this, the only McConaughey film I would be rewatching that I had seen in the last three years, but I wanted to make sure that I saw it with Morgan, who had expressed an active (and surprising) interest in it. As it turned out, she adored it, primarily because this is a film that even three watches later, I struggle to believe is real.

The plot follows Steve Addington (Matthew McConaughey), the world’s greatest surfer and overall chill dude as he returns from a world tour to visit buds, smoke some buds, and mack on some babes in California only to find that his sponsorship contract has been sold to former surfer and current reality Television producer Eddie Zarno (Jeffery Nordling). Zarno has his own ideas about how to monetize Addington’s intrinsic cool, and it requires digitizing the world-famous surfer into a video game and building up hype around a Big Brother-esque house full of surfers and super models. And while Addington’s best friend (played by Woody Harrelson) is game for some easy money, the chill superstar himself is less enthused.

But simply describing the plot doesn’t get across how fundamentally weird the film is—possibly due to Addington getting tempted by the allure of easy money and video game surfing, the waves all across California (and even Mexico) simply stop coming. There is a surf drought that lasts months, and Addington has to swear off weed and sex in an act of self-sacrifice to bring the waves back to the people. The cast is rounded out by a series of oddballs (including Willie Nelson as a marijuana farmer and goat herder) and the plot simply continues along at its own steady pace like a bar story told by a charismatic, if offputing, drinker.

The film has the washed out digital cinematography that was so unfortunately common in the early 2000s and while it’s shot somewhat competently, there’s no real beauty to the landscape that isn’t intrinsic to the Malibu beaches. If there are beautiful shots, it’s because they’re in a beautiful location, like a tourist’s photo. Outside of McConaughey and Harrelson, none of the actors acquit themselves particularly well, and the rest of their careers following the film would suggest it wasn’t a problem unique to this project. They’re fine in their roles, but none of them can stand up to two obvious movie stars when they share a scene with either.

It’s not quite clear why this was such a passion project for McConaughey, but it undeniably was. He produced the film, helped cast the film, used his record company to make music for the film, seems to have done at least some level of casting decisions and co-writing on the film, and even hums the Star-Spangled Banner in the very opening shot of the film (which features a USA flag). As the second collaboration between himself and Woody Harrelson (following EdTV and before True Detective), it’s an intriguing oddity, but there’s nothing here to suggest that this is worth seeking out except for those deviant completionists who spend all month watching McConaughey movies simply because his name rhymes with May.

So it goes.