A reminder of a time when rollerblading threatened to become a national craze rather just a popular leisure activity, Airborne stars Shane McDermott as a rad surfer leading a blissful life in Southern California. That changes, however, when his parents depart for Australia, leaving him in the care of his aunt and uncle in the snowy, nightmarish abyss of Cincinnati. Upon arriving, he's befriended by comic-relief cousin Seth Green, a wacky misfit decked out in full Dream A Little Dream-era Corey Feldman regalia, complete with fringed black leather jacket, black beret, and red-tinted sunglasses. Despite Green's assurance that Cincinnati is a party town, McDermott soon runs into trouble. Like most athletic, model-handsome teens, he has difficulty fitting in, and is soon an object of ridicule among his pale, sickly peers, who don't approve of his mellow vibes, babe-magnet looks, and propensity for throwing up the peace sign. After introducing himself to classmates in a speech riddled with indecipherable surfer slang, McDermott is tormented by suspiciously post-collegiate-looking classmate Jack Black, who derides him as a "fruity two-shoes" and labels him "Pretty Boy Maharishi," a derogatory nickname that somehow stays with him throughout the film. Discouraged, McDermott comes close to giving up but finds a new lease on life after rediscovering his rollerblades. Before long, he's rollerblading up a storm while romancing pretty Brittney Powell to a timeless soundtrack packed with songs by Jeremy Jordan, Ugly Kid Joe, and Right Said Fred. Oddly enough, McDermott wins over the local hooligans not through his rollerblading ability, but by pulling down the pants of a snobby street-hockey enthusiast, an act of passive resistance worthy of McDermott's ideological idol, Gandhi. His rollerblading skills do prove useful, however, when he and his classmates take on hated rivals "The Preps" in a suicidally dangerous rollerblading contest designed to settle things once and for all. Airborne's poster boasts that it is "The World's Only Rock 'N' Rollerblade Movie," and despite the power and influence of the Rock 'N' Rollerblade movement, it's likely to hold onto that distinction for a while.
Most Dugg A.V. Club Articles
Advertisement
- Comments