The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Over the last ten years, Burt Reynolds has straddled the line between being an A-lister and a B-lister. His best known comeback was in 1997, when he re-emerged into the A-list spotlight with "Boogie Nights". Ten years later, he was still making good movies along the likes of "Mystery, Alaska" and the decent remake of "The Longest Yard". If he keeps doing movies like "Cloud 9", he may have to kiss those A-list parts goodbye again.The problem with "Cloud 9" is not that Burt Reynolds is bad in it. In fact, the movie starts out really well with Reynolds playing a lovable loser. It's not the first time he plays one of these characters, and he usually plays it very well. It's just that the movie is boggled down with so many sports and rags-to-riches movie clichés that by the end, the movie seems far from original even though the premise is.The premise is another great thing about this movie, and the movie had the right idea about where to go with it until the very end. The problems occur with the lack of character development. Burt Reynolds' and D.L. Hughley's characters are pretty well developed, but the strippers could have been made into more interesting characters. Instead, they are just one-dimensional stereotypes borrowed from other movies. There's the jive-talking black woman, the blond stripper with a heart of gold, the angry Latino stripper, and the Russian bombshell that no speak English good. Oh yeah, and although Angie Everheart does a better-than-expected acting job in this movie, her character has been done before. If I had a nickel for every movie where there was a smart, single mother who was forced to strip to support their only child, I'd be a millionaire. In fact, wasn't Burt Reynolds himself in a big budget film with one of those characters? The name "Striptease" rings a bell, as does the name "Demi Moore". And as I remember, that movie didn't get stellar reviews either.Last but not least, Gabrielle Reese could have been utilized better in this movie. Sure, she's a natural fit for playing a professional volleyball athlete, since she is one in real life. But the problem comes when she expresses her objection to strippers playing volleyball, since that would bring the wrong kind of exposure to the sport. Of course she is correct and has a valid point, but the movie unevenly makes her out to be the villain of the story because of that viewpoint. Plus, the guys in the movie make fun of the fact that she's built like an athlete, which doesn't send a good message to young women who see this movie. They appear to completely forget the fact that Gaby Reese is one of the most beautiful women in the world, let alone the most gorgeous athlete. In fact, I found myself rooting for her side at the end of the film, and really not caring either way if the heroines won.This movie was very promising. In fact, the movie started out great, and even Paul Rodriguez was funny as Juan a.k.a. Wong. However, the really important characters in this story were underdeveloped, and so many movie clichés, tired archetypes, and male posturing made this movie unenjoyable. I reiterate when I say that Burt Reynolds should probably get a new agent, because he has been in and can be in better movies.

Do not watch this movie. There are 2 reasons for that:1. It is so boring that it tops the list of the most boring films ever made. It felt at some points that is is a porno film, but when any girl got half naked the scene ended. The level of the dialogs remain though at the level of porno films.2. Strippers are couched to be volleyball players. I really feel that it undermines the dedication and the amount of work needed to be a professional athlete.This is a porn movie with a lame plot that characterizes porn movies in general, but with all the "skin parts" removed. It's a huge waste of time! They should pay me for the time I spent watching this (even so I wouldn't do it again).

**** Spoilers within... ****There is a point in the movie where you visibly see Burt Reynolds get the idea of taking bubble-headed strippers and making them into champion beach volleyball players. To anyone who has played any sort of volleyball, or any sport at all for that matter, this was truly the "gouge my eyes out with a fork" moment of the movie. From this point forward, we were watching all of the realism of a Muppets movie, but with far less intelligent dialog.Now while I don't follow championship volleyball at any level, I *do* know that players like Gabriella Reece play like they do thanks to a lifetime of dedication to the sport. And there was no amount of quick camera shots and stunt doubles that made this stinker vaguely believable.The "comedy" was lame and you could see the plot twists coming down Pacific Coast Highway a mile away.

first of the person who said there is no skin in this film clearly hasn't seen it as there is plenty on show. i mean its a beach volleyball comedy about a team of strippers so what do you expect.this is quite an average comedy following all the usual plot points (underdogs becoming winners, changes of heart from the main characters and all that stuff). Burt reynolds plays his usual lovable rogue character which he has honed to perfection over the years and could play his part in his sleep but it is the beautiful girls that are the stars of this film (especially Katheryn Winnick (from Satan's little helper) as olga and Marne patterson as crystal). a few famous and not so famous stars pop up in small cameos for you to spot and I'm sure a few of the volleyball girls are professionals (gabrielle reece is the only one i know for sure). I'm not saying this is a really funny film or anything but i can certainly think of worse ways of spending an hour and a half than to watch this. this would be a good film if your chilling with your mates having a drink and just want something in the background. one for the boys.