Review: "Speed Zone" is vapid reject of original Cannonball idea

Review: "Speed Zone" Cannonball Run 3 PG 13

Only one or two connections exist from the original Cannonball Run movies in this odd duck sequel that likely went direct to video in the late 1980s. Eugene Levy (now of the American Pie franchise) takes on the type of character Burt Reynolds was playing, but is only used in cameo at the beginning and the end. The late great John Candy replaces unavailable Dom DeLuise (who died just a few years ago), as the luckless fat driver guy, but this time the girl rides up front with him, because it's a car not a van or a limo. The race is the same, but with the 70s gas shortage and the age of the smog converter, and the compact car, there literally aren't any American made muscle cars that can compete in the 1987 (guessing) race, which likely never happened anyway. All of the American muscle is represented by trucks or larger vehicles, which foreign compact sports cars return, including Lamborghini and BMW. The story though is purely pointless, and given that, has more jokes than 'Gumball Rally' the first movie, the prequel to all of this, from the 70s when the actual race happened, but is not as charming, as it is clearly a knock off sequel done just for money. It does beat Cannonball Run 2 though, which was terrible. By just a hair. Some jokes work. Candy is infectiously clumsy and Levy is slippery, and the mob boss character is almost funny at times, as well as the odd duck tall man who players the villain in many later films. (He's even in the 2000s miniseries Taken). The lackluster send off is just a little too late. The whole action race to the end is lost in tired chase gags. The car skipping the pond part was ridiculous fun and the only reason I wanted to see this is MythBusters did it also and proved it was faked. Well yeah. It was funny however that stock car legends cameo, and even John Schneider 'Bo Duke' plays the guy who jumps the lake. Even so, it was too late. It was done. Newer attempts at the race are called the 'Gumball Rally, ironically and were done in the 2000s and still are. They are all based on the same source material, the book by the creator/stars of the Cannonball Run.