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North Shore

North Shore

Romance · Action · Drama · 1987

On a small stretch of coastline as powerful as a man's will, Rick Kane came to surf the big waves. He found a woman who would show him how to survive, and a challenge unlike any other.

Movie details

North Shore

“The peak...the dream...the ultimate test.”

1987 Romance · Action · Drama 1h 36m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.6 / 10

3K votes

Metacritic

31 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

5.9 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

On a small stretch of coastline as powerful as a man's will, Rick Kane came to surf the big waves. He found a woman who would show him how to survive, and a challenge unlike any other.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over North Shore?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

William Phelps

Written by

William Phelps · Tim McCanlies · Randal Kleiser

Matt Adler

Matt Adler

Rick Kane

Gregory Harrison

Gregory Harrison

Chandler

Nia Peeples

Nia Peeples

Kiani

John Philbin

John Philbin

Turtle

Gerry Lopez

Gerry Lopez

Vince

Laird Hamilton

Laird Hamilton

Lance Burkhart

R

Robbie Page

Alex Rodger

Court is in session

Put North Shore on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.