Movie Title: Driven

Movie Title: Driven
Rating: 7
Reviewed By: Robin McFetridge

Review:
How much of an action thriller movie can center around CART racing? After all they might be going really fast but it is around a small track they circle like 100 times. Driven is the writing idea of Sylvester Stallone and oh yeah he coincidently stars in it. I guess this is how the aging Sly is able to star in action films these days. At least he has the sense to not be the big shot driver and shoot for winning these races. Stallone is Joe Tanto a former CART champion that hit the top and tumbled to the bottom but is still alive to lend his wisdom to a young and talented driver hitting a rough patch Jimmy Blye (Kip Pardue). Within the storyline is a lot of advertising but yeah that is basically the racing business, sponsorship, advertising and sex appeal. . . over and over again those Hawaiian Tropic girls and all the sexy images the editors could come up with. For the plot we have Blye starting to beat the defending champion Beau Brandenburg (Til Schweiger) so in order for Brandenburg to get back into the race he gets rid of his distraction, his finance Sophia Simone (Estella Warren). He wins that race. The struggling Blye is battling his manager brother Demille (Robert Sean Leonard) for some space and attempts to make a move on his own. He makes friends with the hurting Sophia. Stallone is called back into racing to replace team member Memo Moreno (Cristian de la Fuente) a friend that married Stallone's ex-wife Cathy (Gina Gershon) she plays the bitch to well. Memo can't offer the guidance Stallone can. We follow this group from race to race. To actually make this an action film we have car crash and explosion after another. Big crashes, big explosions, something I can enjoy. I don't think this is the norm for CART racing but hey, I have never been to one. I just think if the business was that risky it would not have a lot of people lining up to be drivers. I guess the message here is about second chances, friendship and learning about yourself. So much for action thriller, but I left with an overwhelming desire to drive really fast. Driven is directed by Renny Harlin and also appearing in the film is Burt Reynolds. He has a bigger role than I lead you to believe but I can't stand the man. I will add he is not playing a jerkoff weirdo like his last roles but he is playing an Ass. I didn't get to see any real booty in this film and oh would I have loved to see the bare butt of de la Fuente. Oh yeah baby. As for the rating, I give Driven a seven on the About-Movies.com scale. Ta.