Stupid fun

Rating: 1/10 (21 May 2002)

There is so much to laugh at, so much that is illogical, so much that is painfully awkward..that I cannot hate this movie. Its played deadly seriously, which is a shame, and for that reason alone this in a class with 'Showgirls', and Gina Gershon is aboard in case you want the movie to make the connection for you.
Highlights:
--Estella Warren is inexplicably always at the track, even though her main function is eye candy. Why is she there? Does she have an actual responsibility, or is she just 'the girl'? Who paid for her to go to Tokyo, Germany, etc.? Whose idea was it for her to water dance, and whose idea was it to linger on a shot of her feet?
--Stacy Edwards is also always at the track, even though she is just a reporter writing a story. Is one magazine article enough of a reason to follow the race car circuit all around the world? Why is she given communication with the racers while they are racing? And why is her name Lucretia?
--Burt Reynolds recalls 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?', not because he's in a wheelchair, although he is, but because his make-up must have been put on a with a paintbrush, like Jane Hudson's was. There are some very unflattering close-ups of Burt, too. You don't get a flashback story about why 'he's in that chair' but I would have killed to see him get tortured a little, just for fun, in a movie that provides the laughs anyway, just not outright.
--The trio of racers (Jimmy, Beau & Memo) look like they were filming a gay porn movie and accidentally stepped onto this set. In some ways, this movie is porn-level in terms of acting and dramatic intensity.

--Gina Gershon is just around to call everyone an a**hole, basically. She is Sly's ex-wife and now married to Memo Moreno, a plastic name if there ever was one. Gina breathes fire and has a semi-decent scene in a ladies room with Stacy in which they almost come to blows. It does not rival Patty Duke v. Susan Hayward in 'Valley of the Dolls', but she seems to know the whole thing is a lark so lets loose a little, which is appreciated in a movie where every actor onscreen is so constipated.
--To be fair, screenwriter Sly does not give himself all the big scenes, and does not make the victories his. But the man responsible for so much bad dialogue at least had the sense to spread it around. His race with Kip Pardue (Jimmy Bly), at 195 mph, through the streets of Chicago, is another highlight and the only time I laughed, and I laughed a lot. A police officer clocks their speed but obviously was not concerned enough to follow them or anything. Both men get hit with a fine of $25,000 but the Chicago cops had nothing to say about it at all. Incredible.
Robert Sean Leonard is around to annoy everyone and to cause unnecessary dramatic conflict. The slap he gets was from Estella was from the heart, I am sure.
Originally I watched this only to see Kip, who played Sunshine in 'Remember the Titans' but I am glad I saw it, for its camp-value, ridiculous acting, dialogue cribbed from fortune cookies and bumper stickers, and for its throwback value. Every generation seems to get a race car movie built around a soap opera - others are 'Bobby Deerfield', 'Grand Prix', 'Winning' and 'Days of Thunder', but they didn't have Stallone writing the script and Renny Harlin directing...luckily.