Cannonball Run II (1984)

Having shamed his family by failing to run the original Cannonball Run, The Sheik is sent back to America by his father to restage the race with $1,000,000 of the King's money. Spreading the word brings out most of the previous competitors as well as some new racers as well as some new trouble –Don Canneloni's son (Don Don) is failing in his new business venture and the Don has sent some men to sort out his debtors, namely one Morris Fenderbaum. When the Don's men catch up with Fenderbaun they learn of the Cannonball Run and decide that they will make some money by kidnapping the Sheik during the race.

A quiet night in with a few glasses of wine meant that somehow Cannonball 2 became a viable proposition but sadly, regardless of the influence of libation, this was a pretty poor film that didn't have much in the way of entertainment value. If you are the sort of person that thinks Smokey & The Bandit 3 is the height of cinematic art then you'll probably love CR2 but for the majority of us, this is just a collection of noisy scenes, hung together with the most basic of plots and a load of stars having fun; or at least I hope they were having fun because I certainly didn't. The basic plot is used to produce a few fights, some fast cars, a little bit of cleavage and a whole load of not much else.

The comedy is of the most basic sort and the cast do seem to be having fun with all their mates but this does not make their performances any good. Reynolds just sleeps through it in the way he always does, while anyone hoping that Dom DeLuise will be good for laughs deserve everything they get in life. Martin and Davis Jr seem happy for the paycheck but really you get the feeling that they are crying inside. Likewise Savalas and MacLaine are much better than this, while Rocco, Silva etc all deserve a damn good kicking for this mockery of their most famous roles. Elam, Danza, Farr, Chan and Kiel all fill the screen but at least Montalban and McClure are good value (although that may be less to do with their ability and more to do with Star Trek 2 and the Simpsons spoof respectively).

Overall a very, very basic comedy that does very little worth seeking out. The stars all appear to be enjoying themselves and it is really just as well that somebody is because the majority of viewers won't be. In its defence though, if you're watching this film then what did you expect – although that doesn't really excuse any of this nonsense.