Plot Summary
Straw Weisman directed American Beach House, a romantic drama fantasy film that blends coming-of-age fiction with teen escapism, in 2015. Alongside Cindy Lucas, the film stars Mischa Barton and Lorenzo Lamas. It showcases young adults that emerge triumphant in a competition that invites them for a lavish weekend stay at a beach-side mansion. However, their stay is far from the ideal vacation.
American Beach house, along with the carefree vibes of a Californian sea-side town, sets the tone for what seems like an uncomplicated story. Six winners of a contest held online, promising a vacation brimming with sunlight, relaxation, and the potential for new love interests, get handpicked. Notably, along with the background, it has contestants from various walks of life, including a college dropout with dreams of becoming a singer, an aspiring catwalk model, and a socially awkward yet brilliant IT expert striving to shed his introverted exterior.
From the beautiful American Beach House comes the American Beach House Contest, which seems to have rather diabolical intentions. Each guest arrives holding onto their emotional trauma, hidden pasts, and reasons for attending the contest. During the attempted group vacation, there are interpersonal shifts, romantic relationships, and even some comedic errors (and not the specific type of comedic error one might think of). Some guests want fame, others romance, and the fewest people for a good time. Unexpected stories that include supernatural undertones slowly start shifting the main focus of the guests’ stay towards the revealing of egos warping, trauma flooding being released, and mental challenges laying dormant and partially tackled exploding from ages of kept in tension.
While pondering the sitcom-esque intertwining of lives, the vacation lifestyle that’s portrayed through charm and allure, and parties held in the sun, under the blazing sun, the film attempts to loop in areas targeting selfhood, its authenticity, and personal identity. As time passes throughout the weekend, the group is met with choices that heavily challenge and possibly fracture their marriage or identity: that will determine who the party becomes or remains.
As Janelle, Mischa Barton portrays her role: one of the more grounded and mysterious characters in the group for whom the self-contained grounded demeanor doesn’t entirely work out. Barton who is notoriously known for The O.C. takes control of Janelle who comes through the door with a subtle yet powerful presence. This allowed Barton to deepen the personality of Janelle rather than simply bash her over the head with fun-filled exaggerated positive but unreliable charisma.
Lorenzo Lamas as Boris: Lamas, well-known for his roles in 1980 and 1990’s action television shows, takes on the role of the house enigmatic overseer. Boris’s duties revolve around organizing the contest and supervising the guests. He adds a playful yet sinister atern of humor which casts doubt on whether the entire vacation is what it seems.
Cindy Lucas as Barbie: A spunky and flirty contestant, Barbie is everything her name entails—glamorous, flirtatious, and unabashedly opinionated. Lucas brings lively energy and impeccable comedic timing to her portrayal of Barbie, one of the most memorable characters who embody and exaggerate the film’s lighthearted tone.
While Christian Keiber, Allegra Carpenter, and Steven Chase complete the ensemble cast to form the main cast, the house dynamic is kept alive by the different characters they each portray. From the attention-seeking social media influencer to the socially inept tech nerd, these stereotypes draw from modern Millenial and Gen Z culture, albeit satirized or exaggerated to some degree for humor.
Direction and Style
Director Straw Weisman applies a tone that is a blend of lowbrow humor, soft-core eroticism, and aspirational lifestyle glamour. From what the film portrays as a romantic comedy with touches of ‘lite’ melodrama, elements of the absurd and surrealism are added for camp value toward its beach fantasy setting.
Cinematography also soaks up the scenery by showcasing views of the ocean, pool parties, and the beach house to capture its vacation getaway appeal. While taking on summer fun and youthful exuberance, vibrant lighting, and saturated colors depict the same, even as melancholic or deeply contemplative moments sneak in.
The rhythm of the film is light, kept with brisk pacing, artistic edits, and quick transitions without much downtime for contemplation. Even though comic relief scores and montages do not move along the storyline, the film’s lightheartedness is amplified and more so assists in enhancing the mood.
Themes and Interpretation
At a first glance, the film is no different than the numerous teen/young adult beach party films out there. However, one glance deeper reveals buried beneath the surface-level fun and flirting–an attempt at critiquing and reflecting modern youth culture.
Escape and Fantasy: The movies exploit the problem of escaping day-to-day life activities. Each character gets to the beach house yearning to forget personal matters and dwell into a vacation. The beach house symbolizes the dream life which includes freedom, fame, love or transformation. And yet, this film seems to indicate that these do often masquerade more deep-rooted insecurities alongside unhealed issues.
Perception versus reality: The character portray similar deception through social media, charm, or misplaced confidence. The film assesses how young adults showcase glamorized versions of themselves rather than their real fears and wishes and seeks to critique this sign of desperation.
Identity and self-discovery: The film is light-hearted in nature but touches an important lesson of accepting oneself and growing. At the end, each character undergoes some real vacation experience, meaning there is a part of them that is confronted to reality.
All films mentioned above fail to explore the themes targeted deeply and often get distracted by humor, excitement, or sexuality. Even so, he adds, to a laugh-out-loud comedy, a hint of depth.
Critical Reception
Unlike in theaters, where it was neglected and poorly advertised, American Beach House found a digital and DVD audience. There was barely any coverage regarding reviews, and the scant reviews that were available were heavily negative and uninterested.
Critics highlighted the film’s numerous dead-on clichés, superficial attempt at character creation, and scattered and unfocused storyline. Acting was deemed inconsistent, albeit Mischa Barton and Lorenzo Lamas’s performances were credited with some degree of credibility in an otherwise campy production.
There’s a thin line between nostalgia and entertainment for early 2000s straight-to-video comedies, and some viewers found that value in the film’s exaggerated portrayal. For enthusiasts of low-quality beach movies, American Beach House is a guilty pleasure worth indulging in.
Conclusion
The film offers an incased exploration of cringe comedy laced with romance, melodrama, and youthful fantasy. Though it doesn’t advance the genre in any way, American Beach House enriches the world of light-hearted distractions for ensemble romp enthusiasts. American Beach House is set in a dreamlike fantasy world centered around the beach featuring raunchy comedy, romance, and plotless absurdity.
While American Beach House may not be considered as having impactful themes nor being a critically acclaimed masterpiece, it does efficiently fit its self defined niche as a contemporary beach-watching film. The movie does possess a certain amount of drama, sun-soaked visuals, and sensuality to capture the interest of a specific demographic. The film is appropriate for those who wish to cross paths with a lighthearted adventure infused with elements of mystery and fiction.
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