As soon as I found out there was a film called Computer Beach Party I was sold. I just love depictions of computer usage in 80's movies...and being generally fond of crap 80's college comedies this should be a winner, right? Hmmmm...well, not quite. Although the computer bits are pretty awesome, as are the party scenes, the main part of this film is still a mess. A relatively charming mess perhaps, but still a mess.
There is a vague attempt at a coherent story line in there somewhere...
Dennis and Andy are two young friends who spend most of their days hanging out on the beach 'skurfing' (racing their little weird beach buggies). They find out that the mayor of the town wants to buy and annex the part of the beach they use and they immediately sense something fishy going on. Then one day they find a gold coin in the sand. Maybe that legend about the old buried treasure is true and that's why the rotten mayor wants their beach? Maybe. Andy manages to fall in love with Allison, the mayor's daughter, and woos her with his impressive computer set-up. And he's got some serious techie skills.
Yeah, that's right! Horoscopes on a computer!
Of course party-planning involves more computer wizardry. He hacks into some party planning tool and after a few clicks where the word 'sex' flashes up at random he gets the message: 'Your V.I.P. party has been activated'. How awesome is that? Pretty awesome.
The actual party is also pretty damn awesome. There's even a glam metal band playing live and everything.
Erm...I'm not sure if it gets hard to follow here or if I just lost interest. The mayor has put up loads of lifeguard stands on the beach, which Andy and Dennis destroy. Andy starts to suspect that Allison is in on her dad's evil plans. Then there's also a stupid cop who keeps chasing after a car that looks like a chicken.
Hmmm. Yes. In the end everything works out just swell for everyone. There is no treasure, so Andy and Dennis can keep doing their thing...and Dennis beats Turk, the mayor's goon, at skurfing.
There's also a random title card towards the end when the mayor find out that Andy and Dennis know about his plans.
I'm not sure if they just forgot to shoot that scene or if they just thought it would be hilarious.
Computer Beach Party is one of those films...it is absolutely terrible, there is no doubt about that...but at the same time it definitely has a certain charm to it. It does drag on and its 97 minute running time feels like forever, but I did manage to sit through it all. But then it's not really a film you should watch on your own on a Tuesday night. Add a bunch of friends and a few beers into the equation and Computer Beach Party might just be perfect film. Actually, make that a lot of beer. If you drink enough the poorly dubbed dialogue might actually slide into sync.
And here's the glorious trailer...not original, but cut together by the folks at The Found Footage Festival, who apparently screened this film a few years back.
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