Driven (2001)

A young hot shot driver is in the middle of a championship season and is coming apart at the seams. A former CART champion is called in to give him guidance.

Director:

Renny Harlin

Writers:

Jan Skrentny (story), Neal Tabachnick (story),

Stars:

Sylvester Stallone, Burt Reynolds, Kip Pardue

1 win & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sylvester Stallone	...	Joe Tanto
Burt Reynolds	...	Carl Henry
Kip Pardue	...	Jimmy Bly
Stacy Edwards	...	Lucretia Clan
Til Schweiger	...	Beau Brandenburg
Gina Gershon	...	Cathy Heguy
Estella Warren	...	Sophia Simone
Cristián de la Fuente	...	Memo Moreno
Brent Briscoe	...	Crusher
Robert Sean Leonard	...	Demille Bly
Verona Pooth	...	Nina (as Verona Feldbusch)
Jasmin Wagner	...	Ingrid (as Jasmine Wagner)
Chip Ganassi	...	Team Owner
John Della Penna	...	Team Manager
Dan Duran	...	Commentator #1

Storyline

Talented rookie race-car driver Jimmy Bly has started losing his focus and begins to slip in the race rankings. It's no wonder, with the immense pressure being shoveled on him by his overly ambitious promoter brother as well as Bly's romance with his arch rival's girlfriend Sophia. With much riding on Bly, car owner Carl Henry brings former racing star Joe Tanto on board to help Bly. To drive Bly back to the top of the rankings, Tanto must first deal with the emotional scars left over from a tragic racing accident which nearly took his life.

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Plot Keywords:

romantic rivalry | fire | automobile racing | motor racing | love | 

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Taglines:

What drives you?

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language and some intense crash sequences

Details

Official Sites:

film.ru [ru] (russian) UOL [br] (Portuguese)

Country:

USA Canada Australia

Language:

English German Spanish

Release Date:

27 April 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Champs

Filming Locations:

Chicago Motor Speedway - 3301 S. Laramie Avenue, Cicero, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$72,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$640,223 (Germany) (16 November 2001)

Gross:

$640,223 (Germany) (16 November 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Franchise Pictures, Epsilon Motion Pictures, Trackform Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's luxurious 'Hotel Selin' is named after director Renny Harlin's friend, producer Markus Selin.

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Goofs

In the scene where the drivers are rescuing Moreno in the lake, flames are clearly visible on the water. Methanol fuel, as used by CART, burns with an invisible flame, and is water soluble. Water is actually the preferred extinguishing agent for methanol.

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Quotes

Carl Henry: What about the fear?
Joe Tanto: It's gone.
Carl Henry: The fear is never gone.

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Connections

References All About Eve (1950)

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Soundtracks

"Out Of Control"
Performed by The Chemical Brothers
Written by Tom Rowlands (as Thomas Rowlands), Ed Simons (as Edmund Simons) & Bernard Sumner
Courtesy of Astralwerks Records

User Reviews

Where's that Speed Racer when you need him?

"What am I, a piece of wood?" "Who cares?" "You should talk less and drive more." "This is horrible." "It doesn't mean anything." "Unbelievable." "Will it hold together?" "Not for long."

All the above are actual lines from Sylvester Stallone's screenplay for "Driven," as if he was predicting the reception this spiritless racing film would get. To be fair, I hate sports and I fail to see what's so exciting about Formula One, Le Mans or C.A.R.T. (the milieu for Renny Harlin's latest opus) - but I still could and should have gotten some sort of thrill from the race scenes.

Instead you have a mass of clichéd characters and poor acting (Burt Reynolds proves that he can actually sink even lower than shilling for British opticians), though since they have to spout dialogue that reminds you why Stallone hasn't had a writing credit since "Cliffhanger" (the last time he got together with Harlin) you can see why they have a hard time with it. Surprisingly, the best actors in this film are the non-professional ones - but some would say there's something seriously wrong with any film where Victoria's Secret/Sports Illustrated stunner Estella Warren and the ESPN announcers give the best performances (just one more reason why I'm looking forward to the "Planet of the Apes" remake).

But that would not be taking into account the bad editing and the ambitious but dreadful digital effects, not to mention the soundtrack (which is as horrible as Estella is gorgeous, and that's pretty damn horrible). It's so sterile it's amazing - even when a driver has a spectacular crash it only seems to have been put in for effect... and not to give away the ending, but don't the three fastest finishers in a race usually ascend the podiums in REVERSE order? (And why do the trucks for the scenes in Germany have "German Grand Prix" written on them in English?)

Returning to the subject of hidden messages, the song credits include one called "Take Me Away From Here." Amen - but the last line of the film ("It doesn't last long.") has to be a mistake, given that it takes two long hours to tell and runs out of gas before the end of the first lap. You'll get more entertainment from any episode of "Speed Racer" or "Wacky Races" (come to think of it, Estella would make a pretty good Penelope Pitstop). Heck, even "Cannonball Run II" is better than this. And that's a sentence I hope I never have to write again.