Home
Home

Cool Runnings (1993)

DVD Cover (Walt Disney Studios)
Add to Collection
Sign up to add this to your collection
Add to Favorites
Sign up to add this to your favorites
Overall Rating 64%
Overall Rating
Ranked #1,513
...out of 20,203 movies
Check In? Sign up to check in!

Four Jamaicans form their country's first ever bobsled team to compete in the upcoming 1988 Winter Olympics. They enlist the help of a disgraced former Olympic gold winner to reluctantly coach them. However, when they reach Canada they're treated as outsiders by the other teams, who fear they'll only succeed in embarrassing the sport. --IMDb
User Image
Review by Crispy
Added: September 7, 2009
Once again, we're going to take a trip down Memory Lane and revisit one of my favorite movies as a wee little sprite. Yes, I found Cool Runnings, the story of Jamaica's first Olympic bobsled team, absolutely hysterical, and it spent quite a bit of time in the VCR. However, nostalgic visits on past favorites aren't always met with the same results as when you were eight, and I'll admit, I was more than a little worried about that going in.

Derice Bannock is a Jamaican runner who has spent his entire life looking towards the Olympic games. With the support of his best friend, Sanka, his wife and the entirety of his small village, he trains tirelessly day in and day out until the qualifying race. Despite being a near shoe-in to win the race, the man running next to him, Junior Bevil, trips and pulls Derice and the runner on his other side, Yul Brenner, to the ground. Derice is not one to just lie down and forget his Olympic dreams so easily however, and once he learns of an American living on the island, Irv Blitzen, the wheels in his head start turning. Blitzen was a double gold medal winner in the '68 Olympics in bobsledding, and Derice is able to convince the initially reluctant Olympian to coach the first ever Jamaican bobsled team. Joined by Sanka, Yul, and Junior, the group heads to Calgary to represent their country, enduring the sub-zero temperatures, ridicule from competing countries, each other, and a secret shaming their coach from long ago.

In some ways, my worries about this film were somewhat founded, as I didn't find the jokes to be nearly as funny as I did when I was a child. While a handful of the humor stems from the fish out of water situation our boys have placed themselves in, the majority of it comes from the high-energy, fast talking Sanka, played by Doug E. Doug. Stemming from playful shenanigans such as his fun filled attempt at country line dancing to childish insults (usually at Brenner's expense), the man kept eight year old me in stitches, while he only had twenty-two year old me chuckling. However, I would have to assume that some viewers will find this over the top character incredibly annoying, perhaps even film ruining annoying.

Now the strange thing about watching this movie from a more adult perspective is that even though the comedy doesn't quite go the distance it used to, the drama side of the story more than covers the slack. These four guys take a step completely out of their element, and all of them grow tremendously from their experience. Derice is our main focus here; when he arrives in Calgary, he is quickly overwhelmed with the other teams, especially the Swiss. As the games draw near, he gets more and more wrapped up in the other country and begins to forget his own roots. Now, Leon did very well in these scenes, but it's the relationship between the volatile Brenner and timid Junior that was especially great. Teaching each other the value of friendship and self pride respectively, the two are the perfect foils for each other. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Yul's pep talk to Junior in the bathroom of the bar is one of, if not, my favorite scenes in the movie. Great work by Malik Yoba and Rawle D. Lewis here. And of course it goes without saying that John Candy was phenomenal in both the funny and serious sides of coach Irv Blitzen.

At the end of the day, I still enjoyed Cool Runnings quite a bit, even if for completely different reasons than I used to. Kids will likely find Sanka one of the funniest guys in recent memory, whereas adults can appreciate it for the sake of watching four men go through unthinkable odds for National pride. If Sanka doesn't drive them crazy that is. 7/10 from myself.
Lucid Dreams #1: Lucid Dreams - added September 8, 2009 at 4:19pm
This movie was pretty good and I love John Candy. 8/10
Sign up to add your comment. Sign up to add your comment.
Recommended Movies
White Men Can't Jump The Waterboy Ladybugs The Sandlot: Heading Home Slam Dunk Ernest National Lampoon's Golf Punks Hocus Pocus Kingpin Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story Next Goal Wins She's The Man Blades Of Glory The Great White Hype White Men Can't Jump The Sandlot 2 Mr. 3000 Everybody Wants Some!! The Santa Clause
Layout, reviews and code © 2000-2024 | Privacy Policy
Contact: Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Review Updates