The Perfect Summer



The Perfect Summer is a 2011 TV movie family drama produced by Level Path Productions and Swirl Films for Evangelical channel Up TV. The film stars Eric Roberts, Adam Horner, Sydney Penny, Katie Garfield, J.D. Banks, and singer Jason Castro (who's music is featured in the film), and directed by Gary Wheeler who also co-wrote it with Nathan Scoggins.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) Boring plot that just draws on and offers nothing substantial.
 * 2) The acting a lot of the time is just lacklustre. It only ever feels energized is when the characters are angry.
 * 3) Jake (Adam Horner) throughout the film acts uninterested and angsty, except for when he discovers his mom is dating her boss or when he's attracted to Kayla. It makes it hard to care about him.
 * 4) Adam Horner's accent sounds hammy, which could be because he's Australian. They could've easily cast a local actor to play his character.
 * 5) Jake and his mom Alyssa are supposed to be from Chicago, yet they sound like they come from the west coast.
 * 6) Tyler (J.D. Banks) and Vaughn (Justin Barnhill) are your stereotypical 90's-type over-privileged unintelligent surf jocks who threaten anyone that look at "his" girl.
 * 7) The romance between Jake and Kayla feels forced. There's not much screen time between them and they don't exhibit any chemistry.
 * 8) The teenagers Jake, Kayla and Tyler, look like they're in their mid to late 20s. Even though it's common in the film industry for older actors to play teens, they could've cast actors who actually look closer to 17.
 * 9) Subplot featuring the mom working at her job and dating her boss doesn't really add anything to the overall plot.
 * 10) When Tyler breaks Jake's surfboard or when Lou breaks Tyler's, they snap so easily unlike a real one, obviously because they're made from Styrofoam. The foley sounds don't help either.
 * 11) Subtle religious references which don't really add anything substantial.
 * 12) The surf competition at the end is underwhelming and has him losing with everyone happy about it.
 * 13) The trailers mention that the recent death of Jake's father as a major plot point, yet in the actual movie it only ever gets briefly mentioned.

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