Shifting Gears

Great family fun movie Great actors, really funny and I enjoyed watching it!

This is not a R rated film but one you can actually take kids to. The actors were great with a very PG script (any one of the veteran actors can be seen in big budget films) with just enough hints along the way to kind help set up the ending without being heavy-handed and making it with a nice twist that one might not see coming. The best part is the use of a real track and it looks like they hired the local drivers and their cars for the race scenes with maybe 10 seconds in total of stock footage from the same track of actual racing to get some large crowd shots. Almost every shot looked like actual full speed racing especially on the corners. They actually looked like they were racing, trading paint and sliding in those corners. The fans were likely local race fans and there were quite a few of them so it appears the movie shoot was a big deal for the track, the drivers and their fans and they certainly came out when asked to be part of this movie. It appears that between the drivers and the movie director, they put on a show that enabled them to get some great crowd shots because the fans looked like any race night at the local dirt track. The director also did not have to use obvious movie tricks to make the crowd look larger (that always fail); that was a huge plus for this type of film. I can not emphasize how much better the race scenes are compared to the usual low-speed Hollywood fake stuff one normally sees in films like this. The only way it would have been more convincing would have been a lot more trading paint and intentional spin-outs, but it would have been a little more hard to make Ratzenberger into a bad guy if they really portrayed the kind of racing that would really occur when $50,000 purses are on the line. But I doubt the movie budget would have withstood the price the car owners would have wanted and the cost of the repairs to the cars after the movie was shot for that kind of racing to be shot.

"Shifting Gears" is a fun, family-friendly, and touching film. Terrific cast. Adam Hicks shined as the youngest Williamson, the sincere, loveable teenager whose relationship with his father Tom drives much of the story. R. Keith Harris's performance is enjoyable whether he is provoking tears or laughter. C. Thomas Howell offered timely comedic moments while John Ratzenberger was a convincing nemesis, quite the opposite of gentle, fun-loving Cliff. Emmet Walsh was perfect for the Cheerwine-soaked-snuff-spitting bench-sitting man of mystery, and Brooke Langton was just right for the role of Carol, Tom's wife, bringing wisdom and warmth, keeping us, and her husband, grounded. The car racing scenes were authentic, if a bit too sparse. The engine sounds could have been amplified a bit more. Occasionally, serious material was treated with a bit of comedic effect that came across as out of place, as with the "Eat My Dust," "Kiss My Grits" verbal father-son sparing, a critical moment in their relationship that called for something a bit less silly-sounding. All in all, though, an enjoyable, feel good movie for everyone.