Lords of Dogtown has a story, sort of. It's a dramatic re-creation of the lives of the surf rats of Venice Beach, Calif., who turned skateboarding from a fad to a competition sport in the 1970s. It has characters, kind of, with actors impersonating such famous-in-their-subculture personalities as scruffy promoter Skip Engblom and his protégés Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva and Jay Adams.

The film's real strength, though, is its look and attitude. Its teenage-girl appeal is off the charts. The movie is cast with cute, buff Southern California dudes lovingly photographed as they make reckless moves through swerving traffic and around drained swimming pools. There are times when the film looks like an Abercrombie catalog brought to life. If the boys were any hotter, the theater would turn into a squealing, stampeding episode of "When Cheerleaders Attack."

***