Hopkins Shines in this excellent sleeper

Rating: 10/10 (20 March 2006)

Take 1 part Crocadile Dundee, 2 parts Oscar Madison, 1 part McGuiver and you have the raunchy old biker character Hopkins created to approximate Burt Munro...a 68 year old pensioner from Kiwi land that set the world speed record in the 1000cc motorcycle class.
Burt Munro lives in his garage, fills his tea pot with quench water from his forge and urinates on his lemon trees ( best fertilizer you can give 'em)...but the ladies seem to take to his free and easy life style and Hopkins/Burt seems to have no effort charming bunk mates....he even charms the cross dressing desk clerk at his Hollywood motel.
Much of the movie is spent with Hopkins developing and personifying Burt's character and playing his rustic stoicism and mellow temperament against life's hard knocks, modern times and some pretty bizarre Hollywood denizens and the pursuit of his dreams of speed....and this works because you are kept enthralled with his hapless journey to the "holy ground"...the salt flats of Bonneville not realizing 2 hrs have shot by.
The final stages of the movie involve Burt's endearing himself to the
"kids" competing for the Bonneville speed crown and having the rules bent so he can make his famous run on the flats.
If you ride motorcycles and don't usually like motorcycle movies ( like me), this one is for you....actually this is a great old fashioned success-against-all-odds movie that entertains, makes you laugh and also reflect. Hopkins shines in characterizing the resilient grease monkey Burt Munro and there is enough action, comedy and pathos to keep a broad audience absorbed in Burt's quest.
Probably the most enjoyable movie I saw this year. Donaldson has a sleeper on his hands with this fine effort. You can tell that the director had a passion for telling Burt's tale. It comes through strong in the small details that make this movie so believable and the characters so real. Too bad it was so poorly promoted. I don't understand how such a great film got 3rd rate distribution and promotion...methinks some politics are at work...shame, everyone should see this one it's a classic.