Drift 2013

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: This poor-surfers-make-good drama from Morgan O'Neill and Ben Nott relies more than it should on toned thighs and taut gluteals. Be grateful; there's nothing to see on dry land that's anywhere near as compelling. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: Manages to get a fair bit right about early 1970s surf culture when it isn't trafficking in the hoariest of David-vs.-Goliath cliches. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Writer and co-director Morgan O'Neill based Drift on true surfer stories from the era; however, the movie mostly comes across as a grab bag of tired tropes. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: The leads are engaging, and Pollard in particular projects an easygoing, friendly machismo. Where the movie routinely disappoints, though, is in pursuit of a perfect storm of conflict story lines ... Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: I'm a sucker for films with great surfing footage, let alone wacky '70s hairstyles. But this overlong, cliche-infested Aussie period drama tested my patience. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Has genial moments, but they're lost in a sea of boilerplate incidents and prefab characters. Surfing sequences are easily as striking as what we see in documentaries about the sport. Read more

Zachary Wigon, Village Voice: Not so much drifting as veering between storylines, Ben Nott and Morgan O'Neill's Drift often feels like a film with narrative ADD. Read more