Courbes dangereuses

In a film seemingly not supervised by a director, two California college roommates, Chuck (Tate Donovan) and Wally (Grant Heslov) take part in a vapid adventure obviously targeted at a barely pubescent audience. Chuck has an opportunity of which he has dreamed, to work for a large corporation where he will begin at $60000 per year, if he will complete a pre-employment assignment for the CEO (Robert Stack), a friend of Chuck's father. His duty is to deliver an expensive new Porsche, a birthday gift to the CEO's daughter in Lake Tahoe, but naturally complications occur due to Wally, the irresponsible friend of Chuck. Wally convinces Chuck to first utilize the Porsche as "bikini bait" in San Diego, where there is coincidentally a scheduled beauty pageant, and where the car is stolen. The manipulation of Chuck by Wally makes little sense throughout this affair, but sensible behaviour is not readily found within the script, as it would only interfere with pratfalls and bathing suit competitions. It is enough to mention, as ever with this type of film, a providential solution is found for personal relationship problems and that no one seems to mind if logic vanishes along the way. A payday is given to veterans Stack, Leslie Nielsen and Elizabeth Ashley, all of whom essentially create their roles, and a bright spot is a performance by funnyman Robert Klein, with his usual off-kilter derelict, in this instance an aging surfer. Poorly written and edited, this picture can yet claim freedom from any mean-spirited component, its most offensive facet being that the viewing of it is fundamentally a waste of time.

My review was written in December 1988 after watching the film on Vestron video cassette.

"Dangerous Curves" is a squeaky-clean youth comedy about two guys, a Porsche and a beauty contest. Vestron wisely is sending this out direct-to-video.

Tate Donovan and Grant Heslov are the pleasant enough nerds headed for a weekend adventure driving a new red Porsche, a birthday gift from industrialist Robert Stack to his daughter in Lake Tahoe.

The car is stolen and they're diverted to San Diego and a beauty pageant where the hot vehicle is being offered as main prize.

Predictable hijinks benefit from the two leads' personable thesping, with a bevy of pretty girls on display (but tastefully covered for that PG rating). Guest star "Airplane" alumni Robert Stack and Leslie Nielsen aren't funny here, nor is Rober Klein as an aging surfer.