Ready for the most hilarious surf movie of the 21st century? Here's why "The Outrider" changes everything.
The movie tells the story of Mike Strident (Danny Webb), a 1970s surfboard shaper and innovator who invented "The Outrider," a revolutionary fin.
However, with the advent of the thruster fin setup developed by Simon Anderson, his creation becomes outdated and old-fashioned, and Strident falls into obscurity.
The good news is that, three decades later, Californian hot dogger Tommy Tonata (Alexander Petitmaire) falls in love with the "The Outrider," and the fin gains a second life.
The film by Rob Lockyear and Jeremy Joyce jokes with all the clichés of modern surfing that transport us into the 1970s.
1970s Clichés
You'll revisit the VW vans, the hipster looks, the lo-fi way of life, the longboard hypocrisy, the free surfing lifestyle, psychedelic drugs, 8mm film, the niche brands, analog photography, and anti-competition attitudes.
"I used to surf competition when I was younger, but placing first over and over again just didn't make me happy, and I knew I had to break away from that," says Tonata.
"What inspires me? George Greenough, Frank Zappa... Nelson Mandela? I find it hard to separate surfing from art. They live together."
Tommy Tonata has a beard that cashes checks and is sponsored by gdõjen, a sneaker company that produces individually hand spray painted shoes - by a machine - to the surfer's original design.
The surf comedy film ticks all the humorous boxes and, in a way, reflects the idiosyncrasies of the current state of surfing, with its paranoic retro obsessive behaviors and irrelevant surfboard design talk.
"The Outrider" probably is the smartest surf comedy movie ever released. It will be interesting to see how he will look at it in ten or 20 years' time.