Corvette Summer

If you are a Star Wars fan, it is interesting to see Mark Hamill in this movie, second only to The Big Red One as non Star Wars performances go.

Annie Potts of Ghostbusters and Designing Women fame is great. I personally have nothing against Hamill and would like to see him do more movies and choose better scripts. Look for this film from the same creative team as Dragonslayer (another underrated film, which Ally McBeal fans should seek to see Peter MacNichol in a slightly different light).

It is well worth it. It won't change your life, but it's not a rip-off. It's good summer fun.

This is a rare young Mark Hamill leading man role and he, while dorky as heck, manages to pull it off quite well. Annie Potts is the real star here in a great performance, but it's a car movie full of random coincidences that make the story have no drive (pun intended) BUT it's charming and breezy and a pleasant enough curiosity for anyone who wants to see 70's Las Vegas and young Mark Hamill before the facial scarring.

This movie is somewhat underrated, at least in my opinion, I guess that one has to enjoy cars to enjoy the movie. Anyway, it has Mark Hamill in one of his many not-so-famous roles, but he still makes the film watchable for a Star Wars fan. Pretty good chase scene at the end...

"Corvette Summer" is a coming-of-age story, but it runs pretty rough (I know, I know, I'll watch it with the car puns). It hits the right notes for such a movie, and the right characters get what they're meant to have in the end, but it's a surprisingly somber affair. Mark Hamill (looking particularly squalid) spends a great deal of time sulking through the streets of Sin City in search of his stolen hot rod, and that character just seems to sap the life outta this thing. Stick with it and there's that appropriate ending and even an eleventh-hour car chase.

But here's why this movie is worth a watch: Annie Potts. Charming, warm and unbelievably attractive, she's the reason "Corvette Summer" has any life at all. It's the kind of performance that makes you look forward to her next scene.

She's something else.

6/10

I read several reviews about this movie before writing mine. I always do for some reason. The one common thread throughout a lot of the reviews is a point I definitely agree with. This movie oozes 70's cheese. Keep in mind, I happen to love the tackiness that only the 70's could offer.

Aside from that, this is a fairly simple, yet entertaining movie. Does it break any new ground? Certainly not. But how many movies do? Our main character, Kenny Dantley, builds and falls in love with a custom Corvette in his high school shop class. Not long after it is built the car is stolen. The cops tell Dantley and the rest of his shop class that the car most likely will never be recovered. Dantley refuses to accept this and heads to where he heard the car was last seen. Vegas. Along the way he falls in love with Vanessa, a wannabe hooker headed to Vegas to "go pro".

There is no doubt that this is a "B" grade drive in movie. That being said, if you are a "car guy" (as I am) this movie should prove to be worth watching. Anyone who has ever fallen in love with a car will understand Dantley's obsession. It's NOT "just" a car. Car guys know their obsessions are irrational, but that doesn't stop us. Call me crazy, but the attraction a car guy has to his favorite model isn't THAT much different than the one he feels to his dream girl.

Corvette Summer offers a few laughs and a return to a part of the 70's a lot would like to forget. The disco van scene. There are some familiar faces from the era and a great chase scene at the end of the movie. Not every movie is Oscar bound. Let's not forget a movies most important purpose is to entertain.