Released by Buena Vista under it's new "Roger Corman Collection" banner and touted by a sticker on the DVD box as "Comedies Your Mom Won't Let You See", Beach Balls is your typical 80's teen sex/beach comedy, only it's such tamer than the usual fare with barely any of the raunchy humour or nudity that typifies this type of film - in fact, your mom could watch it with you, it's so harmless.

This one follows the adventures of two California beach teens, Charlie (Phillip Play) and Scully (Steven Tash), as they get up to all sorts of watered-down antics one summer. Seems that Charlie really wants to win over bikini babe Wendy (Heidi Helmer) who he's had a crush on for three years, but she only seems interested in rock musicians.

Luckily for Charlie he knows the lead singer of local hair band sensation, Severed Heads In A Bag, and he offers to introduce Wendy to him, in hopes that his "connection" will make her like him. Of course, this doesn't pan out the way he wants as Wendy is more interested in our rocker (who sings lines like, "Time to rock, time to roll..." in the first of three pretty bad musical numbers) and just wants to be friends with Charlie.

Not ready to give up, Charlie and Scully try to come up with a way for him to make enough money to finally buy the guitar and amp he's been eyeing up at the local music store in hopes that Wendy will change her mind. A sub-plot which, by the way, never is as important as scripter David Rocklin starts it out as being.

If the entire plot description sounds familiar it's because it is. Nobody ever accused this sub-genre of movies for attempting to step outside of the "boy wants girl, girl doesn't want boy, people party a lot and get into slapstick hijinks, boy wins girl" set-up. And as with most movies of this type it offers enough lowbrow lamebrained antics to at least stay watchable for the most part.

Sure, Beach Balls doesn't deliver on the promise of the box artwork, but it makes an okay diversion and benefits from a likeable lead (Paley, in his only movie role - he also played Cha-Ka in the 70's TV show Land Of The Lost), a few moments of mild chuckles (such as when Charlie reads his sister's diary to Wendy's lifeguard jock bully to try and get him to take his sister away for the weekend so he can have a party), and a general lightweight tone. Plus, it's horribly dated now and it's amusing to see all the 80's fashions and sayings.

For some reason, no matter how bad they are, I've always found myself drawn to certain types of movies - these T&A beach comedies just so happen to be one of them (I also have an affinity for slasher movies and 80's ninja flicks), so that might be why I wrung more enjoyment from Beach Balls than it probably deserved, but if you're like me and enjoy this type of inanity this could've been a lot worse - just prepare yourself for all the unfunny scenes involving Charlie and his probation officer and one mind-boggling speech about homosexuality.

Nobody in the cast has really had much of a career since this (in fact, for a lot of them this was their only movie credit - as it was writer Rocklin's only produced screenplay). Director Joe Ritter has gone on to be a camera operator on bigger movies such as Starship Troopers and Pulp Fiction, but he'll probably be best known to B-movie fans as the writer of the original Toxic Avenger movie. Also is you have a sharp eye you might recognize Gary Schneider (who plays mom obssessed punker, Mollusk) as one of the main actors in the original Toxie as well as Troma's Class Of Nuke 'Em High. (Chris Hartley, 4/6/06)

Directed By: Joe Ritter.
Written By: David Rocklin.

Starring: Phillip Paley, Heidi Helmer, Amanda Goodwin, Steven Tash.