Review of Cool Runnings (1993) by Lucas Eduardo B — 02 Nov 2012

A childhood memory of mine was watching Cool Runnings a million times. Back then, it seemed a whole lot funnier. Coming back to watching John Candy films has made the thought of this being funny slightly fade- some parts are funny and some parts aren't funny. Doug E. Doug is really annoying as his character's name is a pun on a coffee brand- but this isn't the only bad pun. One dude's name is Yul Brenner, which is supposed to be funny, but really isn't.

The simple plotline of the film is that most of these characters were previous runners from Jamiaca. After Derice, the main character, was tripped in a major race, he gives up his dreams of a running career. After learning of bobsledding legend Irv Blitzer, he gets his friends to try to create the first Jamaican bobsled team. Blitzer is now a washed-up man who spends his days in a bar, but he eventually agrees to coach them. As the team trains and goes to cold Canada after making it to the Olympics, they have a whole slew of slapstick mayhem and the film pretty much is predictable from there- since it's a Disney movie, of course they win.

The movie is great for kids, but once you get to a certain age like I have, it gets old. The cast is pretty predictable as all of them have cartoonish personalities- One is the main character, with a simple personality; one is the silly one who is somewhat stupid; one is the tough guy; and the other is the shy one. However, John Candy was great as always. If any adults plan on watching it, it might appeal to them but it didn't exactly appeal to me when watching it nowadays. Kids will definitely like it, though- that's one of the few good things about the movie, besides Candy's appearance.