Dennis Christopher of “Breaking Away” fame delivers a solid, engaging performance as T.T., a gawky, disenchanted, fresh out of high school adolescent hick from Chicago who comes to the cool California beaches to find women, contentment and excitement by becoming actively involved in the allegedly thrilling surfing lifestyle. Unfortunately, T.T. only discovers that the anomie and dissatisfaction he’s trying to avoid in life are an intrinsic, albeit often ignored and unspoken part of the actually nothing terribly stirring surfing lifestyle.
An appealingly off-beat seriocomic youthful rites of passage outing from — and radical departure for — American International Pictures, “California Dreaming” makes for a neat, incisive, slyly revisionist beach movie feature which refuses to mindlessly glorify the sport’s empty hedonistic mentality; instead the film offers an illuminating expose of the drab, shallow, aimless workaday reality behind the great American myth of surfing while also tossing in some fine insights into love, growing up, responsibility, unfulfilled desires and unattainable, but still persistent dreams. Moreover, it’s marvelously acted by a stand-out cast: the always delightful Seymour Cassel as Duke, the amiable, garrulous, aging volleyball playing beach bum bar owner who takes T.T. under his wing; the comely, golden-haired, very under-appreciated Glynnis O’Connor as Duke’s somewhat snobby, but generally sweet daughter Corky, who wants T.T. to shuck surfing and dedicate himself to a more mature, useful occupation in life; Dorothy Tristan as Duke’s still ardent and interested old flame Fay, the adorable Stacey (“Get Crazy,” “Halloween III: Season of the Witch”) Nelkin as vacuous, promiscuous beach bunny Marsha, and even a pre-“Charlie’s Angels” Tanya Roberts as Stephanie, a stuck-up rich princess who can’t get her unfaithful tube-blowing boyfriend to seriously commit to their relationship.
Directed with trademark acuity, facility and sensitivity by the ever observant and eternally underrated John (“Bang the Drum Slowly,” “Weeds”) Hancock, with a sound, absorbing, fairly intricate and highly accurate script by Ned Wynn (who also co-stars as shiftless surfer dude Earl), lovely, sunny cinematography by Bobby Byrne, and a fun, breezy soundtrack (the folk-rock group America sing a few nice, catchy songs), this shamefully neglected and radiant gem qualifies as a charming, leisurely placed, often wryly amusing, sometimes dreamily (and genuinely) erotic, quite honest and cogent exploration of boredom and restlessness that benefits substantially from its funny, delicate, warm-hearted handling of its endearing assortment of everyday oddball characters. An utterly winsome and well-done little sleeper.
