Flat Tire

Rating: Null/10 (13 October 2003)

First of all. I made a mistake by recommending and defended this movie earlier I have now seen the light. I was so happy initially to see Hollywood make an action movie on my favorite sporting event auto racing but left sick to see how arcade-like this movie appeared.
I've always liked Sylvester Stallone and my admiration of his work would not be disputed because I love a lot of his work. I found him and Gina Gershon's characters to be the only redeemable in the entire film. But I am saddened to see in the database for this movie how he pocketed 20 million dollars on his work on this picture when the money could have been placed in much more needed places. Burt Raynold's character was virtually unbelievable. I think very few owners would even consider letting go of a rookie driver who has won races and challenged for the championship. Some of that money Sly made should have perhaps been in invested into one or two other more professional and passionate young actors and actresses. Namely Kip Pardue, who appeared more like a role in one of his low-budget Indie pictures where he trys to act but only acts like a pretty-boy, mindless clown. Note to KIP: Your Hollywood career might be operating in the fastlane for now but sooner or later you'll redline and that career will erupt streaming mere fragments like a co-lead in Driven behind as soon as audiences recognize you have no talent and no heart towards the key emphasis of this movie being racing. Someone who wouldn't kind getting his hands dirty would have made a far more acceptable choice rather than a born fashion model.
As for the plot of this movie one could call it clichéd. I called it a rip-off. More than thirty years ago a movie called Grand Prix was made and was a hallmark of motorsport movies. Driven copied Grand Prix right from the wheel-to-wheel race to the finish right down to the love triangle between two drivers and a woman. This entire movie seemed to be been some unapproved 'Grand Prix' remake that failed to capture the danger and the thrill.

Although, I feel some that some credit had to be given to the director for providing some original camera shots. My personal favorite shot was the shot created from the prospective of the driver's actual eyes. That view was probably the most inventive part of the movie.
However, I admired how the story continued to look at each driver as a rivel rather than an enemy. All and all I enjoyed the light-heartedness of the movie. Driven is quite a bit more PG-oriented and therefore it is a good picture for a family to watch. But I would recommend going to see a real CART race with real passionate drivers rather than this misguided movie.