THE BEACH
2000

December 31, 2000

DVD

Leonardo DiCaprio. Some hot french girl. The he-she from ORLANDO.

An American backpacker discovers that the rumour is true of a hippy community living by a perfect beach on a remote Thailand island.

The book THE BEACH was such a compelling ride that I read it quickly and suffered the tiredness that resulted. The idea of a utopia hidden from view, with responsibilities for each person is such an attractive idea. I really haven't stopped thinking about the book since I put it down. The buzz on this movie was that it was terrible, but shot in a beautiful location. I couldn't agree more. Thank god I read the book first. The film lacked the heart and indeed the entire point of the book. Characters did completely different things than they did in the book, in fact, arguably the second most important character in the book didn't even exist onscreen. But how was the movie on its own? Not bad. The locations were spectacular and the people attractive. There just wasn't much to it and the ending was ridiculous.