Cannonball Run - Big, dumb fun (with the emphasis being DUMB)

I used to watch the 'Cannonball Run' when I was little, i.e. during the eighties and throughout Roger Moore's stint as James Bond.  And I loved it.  Now, several decades later, I still do.  Only now I can appreciate just how bad it is… in a good way, of course.  It's effectively a sketch show on the road.  A bunch of wacky misfits all decide they want to win a legendary race which runs 3000 miles across America and adopt various schemes with which to accomplish this feat.

And that's about it as far as the 'plot' goes.  It's soooo totally silly.  In fact, it could be one of the silliest films ever made.  I guess you could say that Burt Reynolds is the 'star' rather than just one of the ensemble, but there simply isn't enough in the way of character development and story to focus the whole film on him alone.  That's why all the other drivers take their turns in providing the laughs along the (free)way.  All the characters are basically one-dimensional cliches, but that doesn't matter when they're providing the laughs.

There's not too much to say about a movie that's so simple.  It is what it is and it doesn't ever try and exceed its limitations.  It's a love-letter to films of the past and would probably never get made today (or at least not in this form - it's kind of UN-politically correct, poking fun as the sexes and even Islam!).  It doesn't even run that long (a quick hour and a half if ever I saw one) and it doesn't need to, yet it flies by if you're in the right mood for something like this. 

The cast all work well with each other, whether it's the drivers bickering with each other, or finally catching each other up in order to try and throw a not-so metaphorical spanner in the other driver's engines in order to slow them down.  There's a totally over-the-top antagonist who is constantly trying to shut the race down - he's as beautifully one-dimensional as our anti-heroes.  Plus there's an excellent mass punch-up near the end which made me feel like I was a kid again.

Maybe it's not a film that will appeal to many of today's generation (besides under 11s whose childish form of humour it will probably appeal to).  However, ultimately don't take the 'Cannonball Run's' silliness as a negative - only something you need to know before you sit down to watch it.  If you're looking for high-brow entertainment with excellent character development and well-defined character arcs, you definitely won't find any of that here.  If however you're looking for some totally over-the-top car chases, daft humour, fat men in capes and Roger Moore sending himself up perfectly, then look no further.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one