Many people don't like this movie. To me, it's a classic. Sure, it spawned from the West Coast, and as we all know, everything comes from the West to the East, but this movie is an exception. Nineteen Ninety Six; the year Antichrist Superstar came out. Even though this is a very funny movie and some lines from it will be repeated for years, the wardrobe and music seems to be at least four years behind the original release date. At first viewing, you would think this film was released in 1991 or 1992 considering all the music and styles, but turn the DVD case over and you'll see 1996. I think this is the only exception that the East Coast was WAY ahead of the West Coast.

Overall, a hilarious movie with lines you will repeat over and over again.

This is the epic tale of a overweight young man and his player buddy Darnell's trip to the beach, the Phat Beach! The fat boy steals his father's Benz and off they go, with visions of fat booties in their heads. Once they get there, Darnell is getting mo' booty than a bike seat and the fat man (whose name I can't remember, else I'd use it, I'm not trying to offend the overweight here) keeps getting rejected. He sees his dream girl and chases her as best as he can, but she is cruel to him. The film then begins to get pretty depressing with the fat man wandering around alone while Darnell keeps getting them ladies. There is something I like about this movie, and I honestly don't know what it is. Nothing really happens in it, it isn't very funny, there is little to no nudity, Coolio is in it for about three seconds, but I am always drawn back to it. About once a year I get a craving for Phat Beach. It takes all kinds, I guess. In Phat Beach related news: I gave this DVD to a friend for his birthday. His house was broken into on my birthday and a bunch of stuff was stolen, including this DVD. Bizarre.

I remember watching this movie recently. I had avoided watching this movie for a long time due to negative reviews but I finally caved in and saw it. As I was watching it, I found myself laughing as the movie went along. Phat Beach doesn't take itself serious so why should you? Phat Beach is a coming of age story about a plump kid named Benny(Jermaine Hopkins) who is unsatisfied with his summer and reluctantly joins his boisterous friend Durrel on a trip to the beach. Benny borrows his father's car for the trip and the rest of the movie deals with their misadventures at the beach.

Jermaine Hopkins is immensely likable as Benny. He comes of misguided at times but has a heart. Bryan Hooks is hilarious as the mischievous Durell. Granted that there are times when I didn't laugh but I laughed at 85% of this movie. That's way more then I ever laughed at any of the so-called comedies that are out these days(including anything by Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg). I find these critics amusing. All this talk about quality films while they're religiously watching Quentin Tarantino's(overrated one-trick pony hack)crappy overrated films. Pulleeze! At any rate Phat Beach is an underrated funny treat for people who don't pretend to be high-brow movie critics and can enjoy a movie for what it is. If you can do that you might like this one.