Movie Thoughts: Under the Boardwalk (2023)

• Released: October 27th, 2023
• Directed by: David Soren
• Running time: 1h 23min
• Rating 3/5

Synopsis

On the shores of New Jersey, the local hermit crabs do not like the arrival of the sea crabs. Then one of each kind, a local crab named Armen and a sea crab named Ramona, go missing. They now have to find their way back before Ramona dries out, as she needs water to survive.

My Thoughts

I legit knew nothing about this movie going in except that it's supposed to be kinda good as I saw it get a few positive reviews. And...it's just meh. Okay, I guess. Not bad but man I was kinda hoping for more.

This movies biggest crime is simple: It's so generic that it's painfully bland and forgettable. I don't really care about most of the characters, therefore it's hard to care for what's going on. The racism between the sea and shore crabs stemming in the end from just one bad egg among the sea crabs felt rather forced, as did the romance between Armen and Ramona. 

If there was an aspect I enjoyed, it's honestly the characters of Shelly and Bobby. Both are side characters (Bobby being more major than the former), but they're quite enjoyable and they share a really nice scene together. Bobby also has some pretty solid development as a character. 

I also do like how, despite Armen being seen as a bit of a loser among the shore crabs, his friends are very popular jocks. Usually in these type of movies the jock-stereotypes would be the antagonists against our loser protagonist to overcome, but here they're genuinely nice and support Armen a lot. So that was a nice break from the stereotype in these type of movies.

But other than that, yeah, not much I can give this movie. It's okay, it looks fine, the story is decent, the characters are inoffensive, but man, it just feels so bland. I'll probably forget about this movie very soon.