Plot Summary
When Jake and his mom move from Chicago to Hawaii to start a new life with her father, Jake is less than thrilled about the change of pace. He has to adjust to new surroundings and new people who do not always accept him. He also has to endure his eccentric grandfather, who tries to rebuild their relationship. Jake is ready to give up when he discovers that he has a thing for surfing and that his grandfather can teach him. Perhaps the worst summer ever for Jake will turn into the perfect summer.
Production Quality (1.5 points)
The Perfect Summer is such a clean, stock made-for-television film. From the opening sequence to the loudest soundtrack ever to lots of nature footage, this movie checks all the boxes of mediocre production quality. While the video quality and camera work are fine, the poor audio quality is very distracting as it picks up all kinds of unwanted sounds. However, the sets and locations are fairly professional and interesting. Finally, the editing is standard and moves the plot along at a predictable pace. In short, this production is average, but we’ve come to expect more from professional television channels.
Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)
The Perfect Summer is a predictable inspirational cookie-cutter plot depicting a city character moving to a remote location and having to adjust to a different culture with limited internet access. The constant jokes about the internet and other forced comedy gets really old. The local characters are stereotypical; none of the characters are developed enough for there being so few of them. This film’s premise is a fairly thin sports\training story complete with lots of music videos, empty conflicts, and a typical romantic subplot. Unfortunately, the Christian message seems manufactured and plastic. However, this story has a slightly realistic ending and sort of redeems it to a point. But otherwise, if you’ve seen this kind of movie before, you’re probably not missing anything.
Acting Quality (2 points)
This cast is actually the best part of the film, even though Eric Roberts is involved. He is strange and overdone as usual and singlehandedly holds this section back. His presence poisons the entire film. But the rest of the small cast is okay, though there are some slightly over emotions and cultural stereotypes. In the end, this is a good effort, but we would have liked to see a little more from this professional team.
Conclusion
This plot has really been done before, may too often. Channels like UP and the like need to be brave enough to take a risk with a different plot. What’s it going to hurt? They have the resources to make pretty much any kind of inspirational plot they want, so why not go for broke? The Perfect Summer is one of those forgettable movies that you might watch while flicking the TV channels and then forget about in a few days. With the money and abilities companies like this have, they need to set the bar higher for themselves and do something original and memorable. It’s fine to make clean entertainment, but why get stuck in mediocrity?
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 