Open Water 2: Adrift (2006) Rated R Starring: Susan May Pratt, Richard Speight Jr., and Eric Dane Rating: out of

Six former high school friends board a yacht owned by Dan (Eric Dane) and set off to sail, swim, and party for a weekend. One of the partygoers, Amy (Susan May Pratt) thinks it's a good idea to bring along her new baby for a weekend that promises sex, drinking, and, the possibility of drowning. This act foreshadows the mindset that will be called upon for survival later in the movie.

Once the yacht reaches a particularly isolated spot far away from shore, everyone decides to go swimming. That is, everyone except Amy, who is afraid of the water. Dan thinks it will be a good idea to throw Amy into the water to help her get over her aquaphobia. So, he picks her up and jumps over the side of the yacht, forgetting to lower the ladder before he does so. As a result, all six friends are then stranded in the water and Amy's baby is left alone on board the yacht.

For the rest of the movie, the six young, attractive, and very stupid friends try to come up with various methods to get back onto the yacht. All of them either fail or backfire, usually with disastrous results.

Since it's a straight-to-DVD feature, I wasn't expecting much from Open Water 2. I was hoping for a lot more than it ultimately delivers however. The main problem is that the script makes the characters mindnumbingly dumb. It's not immediately apparent how long these six people are in the water before things begin to go wrong but, even if it was 15 minutes, they should have been able to come up with a way out before it all goes bad. It wouldn't have made a great movie but if a script is going to ask me to sit through an hour and a half of stupidity before someone manages to rub two brain cells together there better be a good reason. Either that or there better be a nice payoff at the end to justify the stupidity. There is no such payoff in Open Water 2. None.

Trivia: Ali Hillis, who plays Lauren, is an associate producer on Throwing Stars, which also features Susan May Pratt. (Source: The Internet Movie Database)