Review of Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977) by Hannah R — 27 Feb 2009

Oh dear. After zooming through two deservedly hit movies, Herbie's finally got a flat tyre.

Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo tries, somewhat obviously, to be like The Love Bug. Once again it's about Jim Douglas: he's back, sans wife, and he's racing Herbie again. Buddy Hackett is out, replaced by Don Knotts as the nauseating Wheelie, and Jim has a new love interest, the (tedious) feminist Diane. Herbie also happens to be in love with her car, which interferes horribly with Jim's desire to win races. To make matters worse, a famous diamond has been stolen and hidden in Herbie's gas tank, which means two bungling burglers and a criminal mastermind are after him. Jim and friends don't know about this, however, and just want to get on with winning the race to Monte Carlo, but there's a snide German driver who - oddly enough - wants to win instead.

The various different plots, characters, villains and pseudo-villains all circle each other rather awkwardly. It isn't particularly good to have Jim back, partly because he's hanging out with a complete stranger, partly because he's acting like a xenophobic moron towards any foreigner he meets. (To be fair, so is Wheelie, who cheerfully embodies the Speak Loudly And Rudely cliche about Americans, when he isn't sharing his rather uncomfortable views on women. [He's not a fan.]) The new characters, such as the inconsistently feminist and bimboish Diane, are boring and annoying. And the whole crime caper subplot is just a nuisance, as well as a thin excuse for a lot of dreadful pratfalls. But presumably the filmmakers felt they needed a few proper villains, since the only dastardly thing about Bruno Von Stickle is that he wants to win the race. Well, doesn't everybody?

It's a slow and rather boring outing for Herbie, missing the zany spirit of Herbie Rides Again and the little-car-that-could pluck of The Love Bug. Stick to watching the first two Herbie films, and forget the rest. The scenery might be nice in Monte Carlo, but the company's dreadful.