IMDb user comments for
Grind (2003)

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89 comments in total

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15 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Harmless fun, 6 March 2004
Author: ctomvelu from usa

Funny road trip movie about four skateboarders shadowing a major tour, hoping to compete. A variation of those endless ski comedies we endured in the 80s and 90s. Some truly funny bits. The four young actors prove reasonably talented, especially Joey Kern of "Cabin Fever" as Sweet Lou, a shades-wearing, Starsky & Hutch-type throwback who proves irresistible to all but one woman -- the one exception being an amply endowed brunette who proves to be hugely pregnant. The film does not over-rely on the skateboarding, which is excellent by the way, instead concentrating on the four young men and their efforts to overcome a series of comic and some not-so-comic mishaps along the road to skateboard stardom. Gross-out jokes are kept to a minimum in favor of character development, which ironically may not play with the 15-year-olds who are the primary audience for this kind of film. Wait until you get a load of the parents of one of the quartet: The father is played by the one-and-only demented Randy Quaid, and the story is that they ran off years ago to become circus clowns. So the son understandably has come to hate clowns. Some of the sequences involving these two push the movie into near-surreal territory, sort of like "Pee Wee's Big Circus" without the circus. Bam Margera fans take note: He has a quick cameo at the beginning of the flick, and is seen briefly in a later sequence. Put your mind on hold and enjoy this silly but enjoyable comedy romp. It's no worse, and a heckuva lot funnier, than that Disney TV flick a couple of years back that was, if memory serves, a teen-oriented update of HANS BRINKER, substituting skateboards for skates.

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Nothing Spectacular, Except for the Skating, 26 September 2005

Author: Stoli_Raz_N_7 from United States

This film is just plain fun. The story isn't anything spectacular, but the skating is sick, the babes are all top shelf, and the main characters are just four guys having fun. Their adventures are enjoyable, and the show is slathered with multiple layers of humor and style. Of course this isn't going to be on any critics' top ten lists, nor will it win any awards anywhere, but the extraordinary films that wind up in those categories often have little to no replay value - once you've seen them, they're pretty much done. "Grind" is a film that's so enjoyable, it's easy to watch it over and over and over again. I've already seen it eight times.

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Grind - brainless fun, 12 September 2005

Author: ysman-1 from Canada

I saw this movie on satellite with no preconceived notions. No it's not War & Peace but it was plain goofy fun like a cross between a "Road" picture & "Animal House". People who criticize this movie for not taking skateboarding seriously have totally missed the point. This movie could've been about ping pong & I still would have enjoyed it for what it was. Brainless fun. So if anyone is looking forward to basically shutting their brain down, but still getting a couple of cheap laughs I recommend this movie. It is NOT for young children. Some of the humor is "raunchy" but nothing anyone over the age of twelve hasn't heard in the school yard. It has a fairly basic moral (never give up) and not all the women in it are eye candy. Perfect for the demographic it was aiming for.

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14 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
Some pretty funny stuff., 24 August 2004

Author: furiousneon

I picked this movie up for like 4.99 on DVD at a rental place nearby..and i have to say it was worth it. Although im not a big fan of skateboarding or the X-Games as a whole..i enjoyed this movie. It was pretty funny. It goes by at a steady pace and the characters all have a pretty good chemistry with eachother, especially considering that the lead roles are all newcomers. There are a few notable cameo's(Bam Margera, Tom Green). The story itself isnt anything great. It's not original or anything, but it still seems pretty fresh. Its funny through out and considering that im not a skateboarding fan and i enjoyed it, Id recommend this to anyone. Its some pretty funny stuff.

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6 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Harmless fun, 6 March 2004
Author: ctomvelu from usa

Funny road trip movie about four skateboarders shadowing a major tour, hoping to compete. A variation of those endless ski comedies we endured in the 80s and 90s. Some truly funny bits. The four young actors prove reasonably talented, especially Joey Kern of "Cabin Fever" as Sweet Lou, a shades-wearing, Starsky & Hutch-type throwback who proves irresistible to all but one woman -- the one exception being an amply endowed brunette who proves to be hugely pregnant. The film does not over-rely on the skateboarding, which is excellent by the way, instead concentrating on the four young men and their efforts to overcome a series of comic and some not-so-comic mishaps along the road to skateboard stardom. Gross-out jokes are kept to a minimum in favor of character development, which ironically may not play with the 15-year-olds who are the primary audience for this kind of film. Wait until you get a load of the parents of one of the quartet: The father is played by the one-and-only demented Randy Quaid, and the story is that they ran off years ago to become circus clowns. So the son understandably has come to hate clowns. Some of the sequences involving these two push the movie into near-surreal territory, sort of like "Pee Wee's Big Circus" without the circus. Bam Margera fans take note: He has a quick cameo at the beginning of the flick, and is seen briefly in a later sequence. Put your mind on hold and enjoy this silly but enjoyable comedy romp. It's no worse, and a heckuva lot funnier, than that Disney TV flick a couple of years back that was, if memory serves, a teen-oriented update of HANS BRINKER, substituting skateboards for skates.

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14 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
great movie, 13 March 2005

Author: DaniiBabii728 from United States

I've seen this movie many times and ill watch it again. I absolutely love it! The first time i watched this movie was at my friends house and hes a skater so i thought i would be bored to tears with another skateboarding movie, but i was totally wrong its funny and interesting! You might think you wont like it if you don't like skateboarding but i don't like to skate and i still loved this movie. The characters are wonderful skaters and great actors and the plot is hilarious! Even thought i don't know anything about skateboarding i still understood the movie and there were even so people in it that i knew like bam margera and Ryan sheckler. You will fall in love with this movie - not asleep!

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5 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
I think it's great, 27 October 2005

Author: sgreenwald-1 from United States

I agree with another comment that the critics shouldn't have torn this movie apart like some others! It wasn't all that bad. There were those random parts that you don't think should be in there, but it is a funny movie that you can never get sick of!

The crowd that I believe the film is aiming for are those struggling athletes or skaters. There is supposed to be a little more struggle than what they put in, but it isn't a drama, it's comedy. Mike Vogel played his part well, along with Adam Brody. Most of the skating was stunt men, but there were those little scenes where the actors would actually have to skate! These actors actually took plenty of training to learn how to pull off the skating.

This is a movie that you can watch with your friends over and over again and never get sick of!

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5 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Blue Crush meets Road Trip with Skateboards, 28 January 2004

Author: mwendel (mwendel@brainlink.com) from Kings Park, NY

Take Blue Crush and Road Trip to the asphalt with boys instead of girls. The movie is an entertaining over-the-top story about four friends who decide to make the summer more interesting by trying to live the dream of becoming pro skateboarders. Their path to potential stardom is one full of roadblocks of all shapes and kinds. Don't look for any award winning performances here, but do look for some good laughs and some good and great skateboarding sequences.

Mike Vogel, Vince Vieluf, Adam Brody and Joey Kern provide acceptable performances as stereotype characters sticking to the molds they have been given. Their performances are not bad, nor are they great, which allows the movie to be very watch-able - I don't think you'll be cringing because of poor acting, as you might have in other films. There are a lot of cameos (some good, some bad) in this movie - Randy Quaid, Christopher McDonald, Christine Estabrook, Bob(cat) Goldthwait, and Tom Green are the most recognizable ones.

If you like skateboarding and you're not going to be watching with too critical of an eye you'll enjoy the move even more than most. It's a watch-able, enjoyable movie. Hey, I didn't check my watch once to see if its almost over yet! Enjoy!

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Worst Movie EVER!!!, 10 March 2006

Author: red_head_rocker56 from Canada

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This was the worst movie that I have ever seen in my whole life. I love skateboarding movies, but this just ranks in one of the worst that I have ever seen. It would be better if there were actual actors. It is all about these punks who want to go on a tour or something (sorry if I got the storyline wrong, Its not like I actually payed attention). And the director squeezed some romance and some "funny" parts. If funny is acting like a total jackass and being so dumb that its not funny anymore, than this movie is for you.

But don't worry, they win and get the girls and its all a happy ending. That whats happens in low-budget, retarded movies.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Decent skate movie bogged down by clichés. (spoilers), 14 April 2005

Author: Pepper Anne from Orlando, Florida

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

'Grind' turned out to be a better skate comedy than I had expected, but it had the potential to be so much better had the filmmakers not been so intent on serving up heavy doses of clichés and comedy homages )such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Thrashin', Dazed and Confused, The Search for Animal Chin, and more).

Mike Vogel plays Eric Rivers, a pretty good teen skater, who wants nothing more than to be sponsored. Difficult as it is to go about things the routine way of trying to pass on tapes to his favorite pro-skater, Jimmy Wilson, he figures he might do something different to get the sponsorship's attention. Very simply, he encourages his friends (also skaters) to join him as an amateur skate team, chasing skate demos across the country to participate in and show off their skill. Of course, what would an optimistic comedy such as this be without the routine of misadventures and increasing doubt among the characters to be resolved in the usual happy-ending wrap of with nearly all expectations filled for the main character (in this one, not all of the supporting characters don't get the finale treatment that supporting characters often do)? You should know what to expect.

But, what started out as a pretty good comedy eventually charges downhill as it becomes endlessly bogged down in unnecessary clichés (though some were to be expected in this Hollywood-styled conventional framework of "the underdogs") such as Matt suddenly reunites with his parents while the boys are trapped in the desert (which slowed down the movie even more with the corny tear-jerker dialog), the homage to Thrashin' in the finale where Eric challenges his annoying rival to a vert skate-off (which, although there are great skate tricks involved, becomes utterly ridiculous in attempt to end this stupid movie on as many whims as possible), the supporting character falling for Matt's girlfriend, and much more. This would be about the point where it bails...badly.

Aside from that, the movie does have some good moments, tremendous skate sequences scattered throughout, and a decent soundtrack. Look for many cameos by memorable faces: Stephen Root, Dave Foley, Christopher MacDonald, Bobcat Godlwaith, Tom Green (who is particularly funny), Pro-skaters Bucky Lasek and Ryan Sheckler (who offers a good inside joke), and especially Bam Margera who appears frequently throughout the picture, although not in the apishly immature form you may be used to. It is not the best that I have seen, but for a middle-of-the-road comedy about skateboarding teens (with one in particular chasing an ambition), this may be worth watching.

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