Slick Humor, Fine Cast Keep This Jamaican Bobsled Tale On Track

Movie review

XXX "Cool Runnings," with John Candy, Leon, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis and Malik Yoba. Directed by Jon Turteltaub, from a screenplay by Lynn Siefert, Tommy Swerdlow and Michael Goldberg. Aurora, Bay, Broadway Market, Everett Mall, Factoria, Kent, Gateway, Grand Cinemas Alderwood, Parkway Plaza, "PG" - Parental guidance suggested because of mild profanity. -------------------------------------------------------------------

Ever since Jamaica entered a four-man team in the bobsledding competition of the 1988 Winter Games, comedian Franklin Ajaye has used this unique chapter in Olympiad history as a centerpiece in his stand-up routine. It's prime joke material, after all, and "Cool Runnings" capitalizes on the obvious humor in those two seemingly contradictory words: Jamaican bobsledders.

The Jamaicans didn't win any medals that chilly winter in Calgary, Alberta, but they captured the hearts of armchair Olympians the world over, and it was only a matter of time before someone would co-opt Ajaye's routine for the big screen.

This might easily have been an inspirational true-life drama in the "Rocky" mold, but instead "Cool Runnings" has been sweetly Disney-fied, liberally fictionalized and injected with enough easygoing humor to make it the most enjoyable mainstream comedy since "Sister Act." It's slim, it's superficial and it hedges every commercial bet in the book. But for some reason, none of this prevents it from being a whole lotta fun.

It could be that Dawn Steel is simply playing it safe. As the first woman to head a major studio (Columbia), Steel gained a track record of mainstream hits but hungered for hands-on control as a producer. "Cool Runnings" marks her solo producing debut, and everything about the film smacks of audience testing, broad demographics and filmmaking by committee. It's the kind of movie best served by a working stiff director like Jon Turteltaub, who was saddled with last year's worthless "3 Ninjas" and seems to be bouncing back from that bad experience.

There's certainly no art to this approach, but sometimes the commercial ingredients blend to form a pleasing confection. And besides, anyone who botched a comedy about Jamaican bobsledders would have to be considered a world-class moron.

As luck would have it, "Cool Runnings" succeeds on its own modest terms, riding on vibrant reggae rhythms as it opens in Kingston, Jamaica, in late 1987, when Olympic track hopeful Derice Bannock (Leon) loses his qualifying sprint and then discovers the long-forgotten notion that sprinters would make excellent bobsledders.

Or so thought Irv (nicely underplayed by John Candy), a bobsledding coach who sacrificed two gold medals by cheating during the 1976 Olympics. Now a down-and-out slob, he's initially reluctant but soon excited by the chance to redeem himself with a new Jamaican team.

You can pretty much guess the rest, but it's the nicely cast team that makes "Cool Runnings" a movie to root for. Joining Derice are dreadlocked Rasta joker Sanka Coffie (rapper Doug E. Doug), the gruff but lovable Yul Brenner (Malik Yoba) and Junior (Rawle D. Lewis), a meek Kingstonian struggling to prove himself to his wealthy, domineering father.

Together they strike a perfect balance of comedy and serious intention, and their Olympic performance - no matter how fictionalized - is as inspiring as the real thing.