Fails on all levels

Rating: 2/10 (30 November 2003)

Let's look at how many ways this is a poor movie ...
On The Facts: Other reviewers have commented on how far this movie strays from real NASCAR racing. See them for the details. This movie is an insult to the high science that is NASCAR today. Other reviewers say that the facts don't make a difference. Any moviemakers worth their salt can make a movie that is absolutely true to facts and still is good drama. See "Apollo 13."
On The Technique: This could have been a film school essay on using crass cliche'. Cinematography was ok at best. Makeup is a mess... the drivers look like they just came from filming "Backdraft." Product placement is so obvious and obnoxious that it distracts you from the movie constantly. Perhaps that is doing you a favor.
On The Acting: Most of the characters seem like they have brain damage. They should have seen the neurologists at birth. Sorry Mr. Duvall, but dropping syllables off words and words off sentences is not what a south accent sounds. And the romance between Cruise and Kidman? They are both hot and they like to have sex. There is the basis of the relationship ... actually the whole relationship.
On The Concept: This is just a feature-length commercial, and it does not sell its dozens of products well at all. I'm not a racing fan, but anyone knows that NASCAR racing, the #1 spectator sport in the nation, is a great concept for movie-making. Unfortunately the good movie about modern NASCAR has not yet been made. NASCAR and producers, if you want a blueprint for your next movie, look at Days of Thunder and do everything differently.