“The Perfect Storm” is not the perfect movie.If it were the perfect movie, it would have things like plot development, characterization, and a point.Instead this movie totes its “based on a true story” tag line at the beginning like a badge, and then spends all of its energy going from one special effect-enhanced wave to the next.Based on Sebastian Junger’s best-selling book of the same name, “The Perfect Storm” is a story of the Andrea Gail fishing boat, which in an attempt to recoup losses from a year of particularly rotten luck with the fish, goes back out on an infamous “one last trip.”That alone is enough to invoke the wrath of Murphy’s Law on these poor, salt-of-the-earth fishermen.The problem is in the script, not the cast. With such fine actors as John C. Reilly, Diane Lane, and yes, even Mark Wahlberg, it is a shame they are not given more to do.Their only motivation for going out into potentially risky post-season waters, and then fishing farther out than they should, is bruised-pride and greed. Not exactly heroic qualities.The film tries to make them sympathetic. Each character is given a textbook problem with his or her life on land.All through the film, I was taking bets on who was going to be left. But ultimately, the movie never develops them or their situations beyond a certain schmaltzy point. When bad things started to happen, I wasn’t terribly concerned, because I never invested emotionally in any of them.Forget George Clooney! The real star of this film is the storm itself, which terrorizes the lost fisherman for the last hour of the movie. Some people might say that it looks fake. Having never been in such a storm but I was impressed.Some of the best moments in the film actually had little to do with the crew of the ship, Andrea Gail. In a scene where a helicopter actually needs to be rescued itself, you may wonder about the technical aspects involved in plucking people from a raging ocean.Another notable scene is the slightly deranged weatherman whose excitement grows along with the storm, which proves how ecstatic, some media people get when disaster strikes.”The Perfect Storm” has some nice tense moments essential to any summer action movie, but in the end, it wasn’t enough to save this movie.In conclusion, there are two lessons to take from this film. One, some true stories make lousy movies. Two, always check the weather channel.