A car chase in L.A. How Original.

Rating: 5/10 (2 June 2003)

This is a pretty good movie. Well-plotted and directed, good infusion of humor, yet it falls flat. First, the one sheet gives you no clue what kind of movie it is, with the cast all standing around. Unless you remembered the original 1969 film, you were clueless. Second, I have rarely seen such an interchangeable cast in any film. Other than Seth Green, any of the men could have been playing any of the male roles.
But my huge objection to this film was the car chase in L.A. There's not a foot of interesting tarmac or any surface that we have not seen cars racing over in a hundred films or on the nightly news. This movie is about a car chase. The original did it on wonderful European locations. So did the Bourne Identity. Not a single surprise in L.A. Of course the Minis went over the Sepulveda Dam. Of course they drove on sidewalks. Of course they drove the flood control channels and the LA River. But even the thoroughly ordinary Metrorail tunnels couldn't make this chase scene interesting. Made me want to shoot the neighbors for having that party. How much better it would have been if the chase had been in the mansion (which is why they chose the Minis in the first place).