[Movie 301 / Day 319]
A barely above average Disney flick based on a true story, COOL RUNNINGS is all about Jamaica’s first bobsled team. Obviously, this is a situation that will naturally lean towards comedy because Jamaica doesn’t get snow! And bobsleds run on snow! I can almost see the execs rubbing their hands together.
Anyway, back in the mid-80s, if you wanted a funny fat guy, you were likely to consider John Candy. Starring in a string of comedy hits, he was much loved by both kids and adults alike until he died at the tragically early age of 44, in 1994. In COOL RUNNINGS, Candy plays Irving Blitzer, a washed up Olympic gold-medal winning bobsledder, stripped of his medals for cheating and living out his days in Jamaica. He is convinced to help the first Jamaican bobsled team train and to become their coach and take them to the Winter Olympics. Along the way, amidst the laughs and main underdog rooting plot, there is a coming-of-age story for the Jamaicans mated to a redemption story for Irv.
It’s all very Disney and has more than it’s share of clichés, but it does work; helped in no small part by John Candy’s charm and the warm humour infused throughout. The ‘bad guy’ is pretty two-dimensional and his change of heart is a foregone conclusion, really, but it doesn’t really matter in this instance. As far as early-90s Disney family flicks go, this is one of the better ones.
My Rating: 
[ IMDB rating: 6.5 / 10 | IMDB link | Running time: 98 mins ]
