XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

kattaie I wanted to see this movie, to show my husband what life was like growing up in SoCal hanging out at the beach in the 1970's. I didn't think it would be much of a movie but hoped that it would capture some of the "scene" as I remembered it... I was not disappointed! I "thought" I saw some of the kids I went to high school with in the background... I "thought" I was seeing old landmarks I remembered... I was really surprised to find it was filmed on the central coast, and that pretty much everyone in it was an actor! If you want to see a film that truly captures that time... early to mid 1970's in SoCal (Newport, Huntington, Laguna, Capistrano) THIS is the movie to watch... Yes, we were THAT shallow and yet uninvolved with everything going on in the "real world" because THE BEACH and anything that happened there was ALL that mattered... the sun DID shine like diamonds off the surface of the water...there were small crowds of people and wide open spaces of beach everyday... guys were obsessed with surfing and girls were obsessed with getting the guy... WHAT a Time Capsule! The acting is good in that these are all actors yet they portrayed the "scene" so well if you lived through it like I did, you just might be asking yourself if you know them... the storyline is not too far off from real life at that time either... but you had to live then and there for it to be real for you... I can almost smell the Coppertone...

papamac630 Like a previous commenter, I too saw this movie when HBO was young and willing to play movies that seem antique now but were actually a lot of fun...this is one of those movies...what is now considered a star-studded line-up of actors filled the cast of this film, which features Dennis Christopher as TT, an Eastern youngster sent out West to "grow up"...and boy does that happen...along the way, he runs into an at-first hesitant Glynnis O'Connor, who does look fetching in a bikini... and Seymour Cassell as Duke, a BSer extraordinaire but with a good soul if not bad heart...and along the way, TT learns to adjust to California life and actually does well...there are a few other subplots in the movie, including Ned Wynn as Earl, Alice Playten as a snobby Corrine, John Calvin as Rick the token stud bad boy, and Tanya Roberts as Stephanie, the girl who loves Rick...and since Stacy Nelkin, the "queen of the B movies" is in this one, it makes it even better...not sure if it's available via rental, but I have seen it online for purchase...it will bring back memories of movies gone by...and it's worth having...

rams_lakers Back in the days when HBO was young, I remember seeing the previews of this movie and wanting to watch it. Living in Hawaii most of my life, it was nothing new for me in terms of the "beach scene." While watching it I felt compelled with the story and characters. TT was such an obvious dork, but I pulled for him as he began to blend in with the locals. Glynnis O'Connor was an attraction with that 70s style bikini and the surfers led by Mike were comical and immature. My friends and I frequently used quotes from the film to goof on each other, and today it definitely reminds me of the times back then. Similar to the 80s movie "North Shore" in the theme of an outsider who tries to make it with the locals in a beach environment. I am still looking for either a clean VHS copy or a release to DVD. Last time I saw this was on cable a few years ago, and I should have recorded it. A must see if you want to re-live the times, it's a shame that some of today's youngsters probably won't get it. I give it a generous 8 rating because of what this movie brings to me, a humorous flashback of that era.

DaCritic-2 According to George Carlin, the term "Extremely not bad" should be used more often ... as in, "Gosh, this turnip casserole is extremely not bad."California Dreaming follows the trials and tribulations of TT (Dennis Christopher) as he arrives in California with some recordings of his recently-deceased brother's jazz music. The idea is to play the music near the ocean, because his brother loved the ocean. While in California, TT stays with an old surfer (Wynn, in probably the best role he's ever had ... should be, though, because he wrote the script), who offers TT a place to live. TT becomes a surfer, woos his landlord's daughter, gropes gratuitously-displayed breasts; so far, it's pretty standard surf-movie fare.Near the end, though, there was an actual plot twist; the plot had been so thin up until that point that I didn't even notice it coming. I'm not as easily manipulated now as I did when I first saw this movie (when I was about 15), but I was so blindsided by this development that it actually gave the ending a strong emotional impact, for me.Great cinema, it ain't, but Glynnis O'Connor and Tonya Roberts were both hotties, the surfing scenes are pretty cool, and the acting is convincing, if not outstanding.