hmmm

Watching Taika Waititi’s “Next Goal Wins” last week, I felt like I was watching maybe the most cheerfully eager to please underdog story since “Cool Runnings”. Yeah, they’re all eager to please, I hear you saying. But there is something almost too cute about these two- creating characters more goofy than easy to root for, easier to laugh with and almost cuddly rather than people to be respected for their sports acumen. Both also follow the strictest of sports story formula, easier to let that run on auto-pilot while doing anything it can to play to the crowd.


That’s the best way I can define “Cool Runnings”, a film I still have nostalgia for though it’s not in the same league as some of the better sports stories of the 90’s. The characters are pleasant, telling the story of three Jamaican sprinters played by Leon, Malik Yoba (“New York Undercover” fans remember), and Rawle D. Lewis, plus a push cart driver played by Doug E. Doug, who fumble their chance at olympics in that sport only to try their hand at bobsledding. John Candy plays the role of the washed-out, disgraced former coach looking for redemption. He also seems to be playing straight-man, which is new for him.


What follows is mostly silly but has a better handle on the logistics and ins and outs of the sport than Waititi’s film does. The idea of a bobsled team at all, much less a Jamaican one, was new territory in the 90’s and it is somewhat fun to see how they turn a push-cart with wheels into a bunch of practice runs. That these guys were discovering a whole new sport unknown to them is endearing as is the idea that they wanted very hard to represent the pride of Jamaica, and not become jokes.


But while you’re sure it never wants to offend, it does turn these guys into cartoons at points. I get that it’s hard to make kids laugh, and the general idea is you should go broad with that, but this movie’s idea of black people reacting to cold and ice is pretty sad. I saw one review describe this movie as a bit of StepinFetchit. I don’t wanna go that far but a scene where Doug drapes himself in everything, plus his suitcase, isn’t so much funny as clownish.


There is charm in these performances and a sweet chemistry with each other, which is good because the characters are one-note jokesters, angry black guys (another poor stereotype), wimps, and inspirational dreamers. The formula is all there- from the conflicts that only bring the team closer together, to the nasty German’s who ridicule them, their bobsled is crap but they make it work, soon everybody loves them, yada, yada yada.


Apparently the only part of this movie that is true was the wreck, and the proceeding march to the finish line with the bobsled. It’s the kind of prideful awesomeness you can build a pretty good movie around. Unfortunately the one they built around this was all just spare parts.