Films That Time Forgot

The Malibu Bikini Shop (1985)

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Reviewed by Keith Phipps
July 19th, 2000

The booming economy of the Reagan era didn't always create a hospitable environment for independent businesses, as recent MBA graduate Michael David Wright finds out after he inherits his eccentric aunt's beloved bikini shop in The Malibu Bikini Shop, a 1985 film from Midnight Madness writer and director David Wechter. Intent on selling it for a quick buck before marrying spoiled fiancée Debra Blee (Hamburger... The Motion Picture) and joining her father's business, Wright's plans are thrown for a loop when he discovers the identity of the shop's co-owner: long-lost brother Bruce Greenwood, a party animal who's happy to stay put in his new digs. After making a few improvements to the store--such as installing one-way mirrors in the dressing rooms--the brothers recruit Jack Benny supporting player Frank Nelson (in his final role) to help find a suitable buyer. Some ill-timed topless antics scare off one prudish suitor, but an aging, effeminate hippie sees it as a perfect location for his new-agey church. When Greenwood's good-time spirit proves infectious, however, Wright begins to regret the decision to sell, calling off his engagement and announcing his plans to buy the business back. To do that, he needs a sudden, seemingly unattainable influx of cash. However, just when all seems lost, the brothers learn that you can't spell "bikini shop" without "kinship," and they rally together to raise the extra money by sewing handmade, military-fatigue-themed bikinis out of leftover surgical scrubs, ignoring the fact that camouflage needs to cover considerably more than one-tenth of a wearer's body to be effective. This problem is rendered irrelevant by the fact that they're sewn together with surgical thread designed to dissolve in water, a flaw that could lead to either years of lawsuits or a movie-ending topless beach frolic. Opting for the latter, The Malibu Bikini Shop helped secure Malibu's reputation as the place to be from late May 1985 through roughly August of the same year.