
Plastic Paradise is the first documentary to chronicle the rise, fall, and resurgence of tiki, or Polynesian pop, one of the defining cultural trends of postwar America. Think South Pacific, candy-colored, rum-infused cocktails with names like the Shrunken Skull and the Missionary's Downfall, crazy Hawaiian shirts, exotica music, and a nonstop party scene inhabited by self-styled nonconformists. That was then. Today, tiki has been embraced by a coast-to-coast underground hipster subculture of former punk rockers, vintage junkies, and escapists. Featuring historians and hula dancers, master mixologists, mermaids, and more, Plastic Paradise is your ticket to this little-known, fascinating scene, including a pilgrimage to the famed Mai-Kai Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale for Hukilau, an annual anything goes celebration that draws Polynesian popsters from all over the world.
Directed byBrett O'Bourke

Featuring
Keep watching

2026
Outlaws of the Everglades
2026 · Film

2022
Los Chicos de la Calle
2022 · Film
5.62010·5.6
Love Exiled
2010 · Film

2021
Invisible History: Middle Florida's Hidden Roots
2021 · Film
7.42001·7.4
Murder on a Sunday Morning
2001 · Film
10.02020·10.0
Unfit To Stand
2020 · Film

2022
Twice As Nice - The Legend of Charlie Ward
2022 · Film
6.22024·6.2
They Called Him Mostly Harmless
2024 · Film
7.62023·7.6
Take Care of Maya
2023 · Film
6.12021·6.1
Dead Asleep
2021 · Film

2011
National Parks Exploration Series: The Everglades
2011 · Film

2017
Sarasota Half in Dream
2017 · Film
5.52026·5.5
The Python Hunt
2026 · Film
7.02021·7.0
Some Kind of Heaven
2021 · Film
6.81981·6.8
Vernon, Florida
1981 · Film
Picked for you
6.81981·6.8
Vernon, Florida
1981 · Film
6.42026·6.4
A Toxic Love Story
2026 · Film
6.22013·6.2
Seduced and Abandoned
2013 · Film
7.22022·7.2
Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Hawkeye
2022 · Film
6.22015·6.2
Elstree 1976
2015 · Film
7.42018·7.4
McQueen
2018 · Film
7.12025·7.1
Come See Me in the Good Light
2025 · Film
6.31986·6.3
Sherman's March
1986 · Film
7.22022·7.2
Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20
2022 · Film
7.42018·7.4
Above Majestic
2018 · Film
8.42026·8.4
S4: The Bob Lazar Story
2026 · Film
6.42006·6.4
Fuck
2006 · Film
7.02022·7.0
Beyond Infinity: Buzz and the Journey to Lightyear
2022 · Film
6.62014·6.6
Harmontown
2014 · Film
7.01971·7.0
Directed by John Ford
1971 · Film
7.02021·7.0
Marvel's Behind the Mask
2021 · Film
8.42026·8.4
Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)
2026 · Film
7.41977·7.4
21 Up
1977 · Film
6.82022·6.8
Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red
2022 · Film
6.42021·6.4
Star Wars Biomes
2021 · Film