''Grind'' is a 2003 American

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Casey La Scala, and written by record producer

Ralph Sall Ralph Sall is an American record producer, music supervisor, composer, songwriter and screenwriter. He is the president of Bulletproof Entertainment, a company involved in several facets of the entertainment industry, including film, television ...

, who also composed the score. The film stars

Mike Vogel Michael James Vogel (born July 17, 1979) is an American actor and former model. Vogel began acting in 2001 and has appeared in several films and series, including ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'', ''The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants'', ''Grind' ...

Vince Vieluf Vincent Ernest "Vince" Vieluf (pronounced ''Vee-loff''; born November 10, 1970) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in ''Rat Race'' and the short-lived UPN sitcom '' Love, Inc.'' Life and career Vieluf was born in Joliet, Illin ...

Adam Brody Adam Jared Brody (born December 15, 1979) is an American actor, writer, musician, and producer. He is known for his breakthrough role as Seth Cohen on the Fox television series ''The O.C.'', which premiered in 2003. Subsequently, Brody appeared ...

and

Joey Kern Joseph Daniel Kern (born September 5, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is most widely known for his roles in the 2003 films ''Cabin Fever'' and ''Grind''. Early life Kern was born in Kentucky and was raised in northern Kentucky in th ...

as four teenage aspiring amateur skaters trying to make it in the world of pro skateboarding by pulling insane stunts in front of their pro skater idol. It was critically panned and flopped at the box office, but has been received more positively by audiences.

Plot

Following high school graduation, skateboarder Eric Rivers and his best friends, goal-oriented workaholic Dustin Knight and misfit slacker Matt Jensen, have one last summer road trip together to follow their dream of getting noticed by the pro skater world — and getting paid to skate. When the legendary Jimmy Wilson's demo tour comes through, the boys figure that as soon as he sees their fierce tricks, he'll sign them up for his renowned team immediately, right? Unfortunately, the guys are intercepted by Wilson's road manager and can't get their foot in the door, much less their boards. Following their dream — and Wilson's national tour — the trio start their own skate team, reluctantly sponsored by Dustin and his college fund. After recruiting laid-back ladies man "Sweet" Lou Singer to join their crew and provide the van for their tour, team Super Duper launches the ride of their lives in an outrageous road trip from Chicago to Santa Monica. The professional scene doesn't exactly welcome nobody, but these outsiders stick together through extreme misadventures. In their quest to go pro, they meet professional vert skating champions Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist and Pierre Luc Gagnon, skate pro Bam Margera and his crew Preston Lacy, Ehren Danger McGhehey and Jason Wee Man Acuña, as well as sexy skate chick Jamie as they grind handrails across America and force the skateboarding world to give 'em a piece of the action.

Cast

Soundtrack

A soundtrack consisting of a blend of rock, hip hop and reggae music was released on August 12, 2003 by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

Critical response

Despite largely negative reviews from critics, ''Grind'' was received positively by audiences. Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives the film an 8% based on 74 reviews, with an average score of 3.4/10 but with a high 79% audience approval rating. The site's consensus states: "Mediocre skateboard stunts are padded by a half-baked plot and one-dimensional characters."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

shows an average of 30 out of 100 based on 24 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".Grind Reviews

Retrieved 2021-11-10. Joe Laydon, of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called the "Skating scenes ... unremarkable and repetitious," concluding that the film was less than good. Keith Phipps, for ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'', said "The film ... will gleam the cube only of viewers with an unusually high tolerance for porta-toilet and Dutch-oven gags."

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grind (2003 Film) 2003 films American comedy road movies 2000s buddy comedy films 2000s sports comedy films 2003 directorial debut films American buddy comedy films American sports comedy films Warner Bros. films Skateboarding films 2000s comedy road movies American high school films 2003 comedy films American teen comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films