I liked this mini-series so much, I watched it in one go! All the female characters were interesting and basically people you would like to know, despite their human frailties. The men came off much the worse in this production. The female writers obviously had an Axe to grind in their opinion of the males of the species. Still, the young female eye candy kept the male audience engaged.
I was mostly interested in watching Julia Ormond again after watching her in 'Sabrina' about 100 times. She has changed drastically over the 10 years between the two productions, having had a baby the year before 'Beach Girls'. Julia mastered an American accent for this effort, never even attempting not to sound British for 'Sabrina'.
Rob Lowe portrayed 'Jack Kilvert' the most self-centered, insensitive, nasty-mouthed, jerk imaginable. The female writers must have chuckled over handing Rob the script to portray such an unlovable character. At least they didn't have him display an unhealthy interest in under-aged girls as happened in real life a few years ago. The script at least allowed 'Jack' to mellow over the course of the production, absorbing wisdom at the feet of his teen-aged daughter 'Nell' and old flame 'Stevie'.
There are few positives in the male characters here. They only improve when they realize that they are hopeless cases devoid of any virtue until they submit their wills to the infinitely wiser females in their life. Only the few hopeless Neanderthal males never realize what bliss they are missing by refusing to bow the knee.
I watched some of the lifeguard scenes with a vague sense of familiarity that troubled me. Then it hit me, these scenes could easily have appeared on 'Baywatch'. I half expected Pamela Anderson to saunter past the camera. Still, 'Beach Girls' rises firmly above the abysmal level of 'Baywatch', faint praise as that is.
I was mostly interested in watching Julia Ormond again after watching her in 'Sabrina' about 100 times. She has changed drastically over the 10 years between the two productions, having had a baby the year before 'Beach Girls'. Julia mastered an American accent for this effort, never even attempting not to sound British for 'Sabrina'.
Rob Lowe portrayed 'Jack Kilvert' the most self-centered, insensitive, nasty-mouthed, jerk imaginable. The female writers must have chuckled over handing Rob the script to portray such an unlovable character. At least they didn't have him display an unhealthy interest in under-aged girls as happened in real life a few years ago. The script at least allowed 'Jack' to mellow over the course of the production, absorbing wisdom at the feet of his teen-aged daughter 'Nell' and old flame 'Stevie'.
There are few positives in the male characters here. They only improve when they realize that they are hopeless cases devoid of any virtue until they submit their wills to the infinitely wiser females in their life. Only the few hopeless Neanderthal males never realize what bliss they are missing by refusing to bow the knee.
I watched some of the lifeguard scenes with a vague sense of familiarity that troubled me. Then it hit me, these scenes could easily have appeared on 'Baywatch'. I half expected Pamela Anderson to saunter past the camera. Still, 'Beach Girls' rises firmly above the abysmal level of 'Baywatch', faint praise as that is.