Terrific Cast in Lazy Comedy

Rating: Null/10 (20 November 2015)

The Cannonball Run (1981)
1/2 (out of 4)
Incredibly bad, lazy and rather embarrassing "comedy" about a wide range of people competing in a cross-country race where whatever rules there are were meant to be broken.
What's strange about THE CANNONBALL RUN is that during the closing sequence there are outtakes shown with the cast members constantly messing up shots because they can't stop laughing. We see various famous faces mess up with laughter and you have to wonder what they were laughing at because there's certainly nothing in the actual picture that was funny. There's a terrific cast on display here but they all pretty much just sleepwalk through the picture so perhaps they were laughing at the easy money? Perhaps there was some funny green grass being passed around?
What we've basically got is director Hal Needham and star Burt Reynolds bringing along several famous faces and trying to recapture the magic of SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT. There's no doubt that the two men made a string of road pictures but sadly the majority of them were quite awful including this thing here. The only thing that keeps this movie from getting a BOMB rating is the fact that it contains so many stars and no matter what you feel about the movie, it does remain slightly entertaining because of getting to see so many people. Roger Moore is spoofing his James Bond role. We've got Dean Martin and Sammy David, Jr. spoofing their Rat Pack days. Dom DeLuise is being himself and you've got beauties Farrah Fawcett and Adrienne Barbeau. Also on hand are the likes of Jack Elam, Terry Bradshaw, Jackie Chan, Peter Fonda, Burt Convey and many others.
So, what's so bad about the picture? Pretty much the fact that it's extremely lazy and it's very doubtful anyone was taking it too serious. The plot is about as thin as a daycare play and I'd argue that there's really not a single laugh to be had. The actors are constantly doing stupid things but why not put a little more thought into it and try to deliver something good? Perhaps they already knew it didn't have to be good and people would line up at the box office? Either way, THE CANNONBALL RUN is worth watching just to see all the famous faces, many of them appearing in the worst movie of their career.