Malibu Hot Summer

I totally adore this film! It is truly among the more terrible creations to ever be released on the world! Definitely watch it with a remote so you can catch all the little oddities. Don't be fooled by Troma's attempts to pass this off as a modern flick--it is from 1974, and definitely NOT a Costner film. He has a very small part, though you can see the budding talent in this 19-year-old. He's the only one with talent, though. Look for fun things like articles of clothing that disappear and reappear--this film is PACKED with unintended hilarity! Enjoy!

I have seen Sizzle Beach on a DVD and gristly to say, the extra's Troma Studios put on the DVD are more fun than the movie itself. The movie is originally released as Malibu Hot Summer in '74 starring Kevin Costner playing one of his first roles. In this film he is playing a rancher that meets a couple of women who just arrived in L.A. He is showing them the way in the hard and quick city of Los Angeles. If you like Troma movies this is a must see. All the typical Troma aspects can be seen: bare cheasted ladies, a "pimpy" midget, some lesbian scenes, lots of topless swimming and on top some great music. If you are into that and don't mind the absence of acting Sizzle beach might be the predecessor of Boogie Nights.

Even if you love Troma, you might not fall in love with this movie. The charm of most Troma movies is that even though they're incredibly awful (artistic-wise), the filmmakers don't pretend they're making Shakespeare. "Sizzle Beach, U.S.A." often does take itself seriously, yet sporadically finds room for those quirky Troma elements. There's a scene where a naive, ditsy aspiring actress tries to get a job by sleeping with a morbidly obese man. He sees her naked body and says, "I see real potential in you." Pretty funny. But gags like that are sandwiched between badly played dramatic moments. The film almost plays out like a bad soap opera...with gratuitous female nudity. The nudity is practically the only saving grace of this "film," though it certainly shouldn't be anyone's sole reason to buy a copy of the DVD. I wasn't surprised when I watched an interview on the DVD, in which the film's director mentions that Kevin Costner tried to buy the rights to the movie, so that he can remove it from all stores and selling outlets. It's still amusing to see Costner in such a horrible flick. Anybody who thought "The Postman" was bad should probably check this movie out first. Though not quite the talented actor he is today, Costner probably gives the film's best performance. The rest of the cast put no emotion into their dialogue, and sound as if they're reading off cue cards. I can barely call this a film, because it's basically just a collection of scenes. It's neither character-driven, nor plot-driven. This is one of those movies I expect to see in the bargain bin, for about $4.99. The only minor compliment I can give is Costner does have a pretty substantial supporting role, so this wasn't one of those cases where a now-famous actor is placed on the DVD cover to increase sales, when he only has a small cameo. And on the bright side, it's a Troma DVD, so it has some cool Tromatic extras. (3 out of 10)

For a film with not a very good plot to begin with this was saved by Kevin's performance. It's a film starring kevin, in what I would call his "off years", so how can it be as bad as these voters say. The acting was ok and the story was not the best ever written but it was a classic B-Movie and i remember seeing it when it was first released, maybe my memory has faded in the years between then and now, and I was impressed , i was only 12 at the time and my understanding of films was not as concise as it is now, but every film has good points. Doesn't it?

Sizzle Beach USA is one of those great little films that lets you peer into the time when an actor or actress that has made it, was putting their all into their performance. This is a true work of art with T&A to boot.