For a look at Nicole Kidman early in her career, we go to 1986’s Windrider. Stewart “PC” Simpson (Tom Burlinson) loves to windsurf, and he plans to compete in an upcoming championship.

However, PC’s plans change when he meets – and falls for – singer Jade (Kidman). As PC finds himself swept up in this affair, he needs to find a way to balance love and competition if he wants to fulfill his original goals.

Across a long, successful career, I’m sure Kidman earned a whole lot of money. She needs to wrangle as much cash as it requires to obtain the rights to Windrider and bury it deep in a hole somewhere.

Yeep – what a terrible film, and no one emerges unscathed, not even future Oscar-winner Kidman. She lacks credibility and creates a wholly unconvincing pop star.

And by “unconvincing”, I mean “embarrassing”, as Kidman shimmies and shakes her way through her musical performances. She does better in the dramatic parts, but not by much, as she overacts too much of the time.

That said, Kidman fares better than Burlinson, as the actor delivers a wholly obnoxious performance. I guess we’re supposed to see PC as confident, charismatic and charming, but instead, he comes across as arrogant, annoying and obnoxious. When the story humbles PC, Burlinson seems a bit more appealing, but he still can’t do much with the role.

Too much of the movie feels random and poorly executed. One scene purports to bring us comedic dialogue in which PC and a colleague exchange lines that make it sound like they discuss their genitals.

This would seem like cheap Three’s Company banter at best, but the staging renders the possible laughs moot. Sequences like this only work if we can’t see the participants – or if we see the reaction of someone who can’t view them - but here, we watch the men as they work on computers, a factor that makes it abundantly clear there’s no tawdry context.

Even at 92 minutes, Windrider feels slow and packed with filler. Nothing about this movie works, so it ends up as a tiresome piece of cheese.

Windrider appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.77:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The image suffered from a mix of problems.

Sharpness seemed decent but not great. While close-ups and two-shots demonstrated reasonably good delineation, wider elements tended to appear somewhat soft. Though these instances weren’t extreme, the movie didn’t boast terribly strong definition.

I witnessed no issues with jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes remained absent. Print flaws became a persistent issue, though, as the movie displayed a lot of specks and spots. It also showed an oddly grimy impression, like someone forgot to clean the lenses.

Colors tended to seem bland. Exteriors went with a natural feel, while interiors leaned blue. The hues appeared fairly flat and lacked much vivacity.

Blacks were acceptably dark and dense, while shadows showed passable delineation. The movie came with an erratic image that just narrowly landed a “C-“, as I was tempted to knock it down to “D” level.

Don’t expect much from the wholly mediocre PCM monaural soundtrack of Windrider, as it lacked punch. Music appeared smooth enough but the score and songs failed to display a lot of range.

Effects were fairly clean and showed no notable distortion, but like the music, they didn’t present much punch. Dialogue was good, with lines that seemed natural and concise. This ended up as an acceptable but bland soundtrack.

In terms of extras, the main attraction comes from an audio commentary with director Vince Monton and writer Everett De Roche. Along with moderator Mark Hartley, both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, music, editing, and stunts/windsurfing scenes.

This becomes a pretty good commentary, as it covers a lot of useful ground. The participants don’t shy away from controversy, as they address Nicole Kidman’s 1990s comments that she felt “used” during the production. All of this adds us to a fairly strong discussion.

Two music promos appear. The first shows Nicole Kidman as her character sings (badly) on stage, while the second shows “Young Days” and offers a more traditional music video.

Neither offers much entertainment, but they’re interesting for archival reasons. We also see a two-minute, 44-second windsurfing promo that hasn’t aged well.

A Photo Gallery comes next. It presents 19 screens of photos. A few decent elements appear, but it’s not a great set.

The disc finishes with trailers for Windrider, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, DOA: A Rite of Passage, Black Eagle, Savannah Smiles, and Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God… Be Back by Five.

Fans of Nicole Kidman will feel compelled to watch Windrider to see the actor in an early role. They should avoid that temptation, as the movie becomes an embarrassment for Kidman and all others involved. The Blu-ray presents flawed picture along with mediocre audio and supplements highlighted by a good audio commentary. Even by the standards of 80s movies, Windrider seems cheesy and moronic