Still grieving the death of her mother, a med school dropout (Blake Lively) body surfs a secluded Mexican beach and finds herself trapped by a great white only a few hundred yards off shore with only a handful of buoys as her only point of refuge. The Shallows is effective in parts, containing some good scares, but the singular plot wears thin and grows tiresome quickly with the lovely Lively unable to carry the picture.
** 1/2 out of ****
