There I was, in the video shop, and here was a desperate pic as I couldn't find any others to watch. My friend watched it me. Twice, one time about thirty minutes into it, he said "This is f..ked", the other time as it's sudden end, he said "That was f..ked". I too shared his opinion somewhat. I happened to like John Laughlin as an actor, this his first film I'm pretty sure. That's the reason I hired it. I started taking an interest in this guy's acting after seeing him in Crimes of Passion, and most recently The Rock, which he was great. Here, the director was going just on his good looks. Also known as Summer School, not mistaking that Mark Harmon movie of 88, Mag Wheels is simply a story set at a Californian high school where Steve and his buddies, and their chicks, chill out at the beach. Steve lays his eyes on a new honey, Anita, which his current girlfriend's not too happy about. You know you're man's fixated on another girl, when he keeps repeating her name, after having just met her, and that doesn't sit well with his old lady. So her and her friends, decide to teach this new fish a lesson, by having Steve arrested for drugs, and setting her up as a fibber which has dramatic consequences for her, involving a rape and a near death at the end in a van dare on a canyon, where you find out Steve really cares for her. So, guys are only human right. The bitch fight scene, earlier, in the classroom, between the two girl enemies, also works to Anita's disadvantage. So it's proper they should write a song after her, also used in a montage, featuring Laughlin and her as they get to know each other better. So you got a crappy film that starts out as a comedy and ends quite dramatically. The first three minutes at the beach, with the guys and girls getting wet, playing volleyball over music is absolutely pointless, you might as have them improvising. There are funny parts to this movie, this older geek (Saul Rubinek looking guy) trying to fit in with Steve and his mates, forever belting out tunes on his guitar. In one scene while he's playing one of his songs, (this actor has quite a potent voice) a couple are doing it in a van, as it rolls back and forth. This scene, I loved. It's about the only dirty scene in the whole of this dry film. Mag Wheels as this film is better known, falls pretty weak, into a status that's pretty pathetic. It's has quite dramatic moments, here and there, that work, the rape scene a bit hard to take, but the whole affair is pretty fruitless. This piece of 70's American crap, that runs similar lines with that much higher quality flick, Malibu High, does have some funny moments too, but this is just a time waster of little substance. Keep this film where it belongs, at the drive in, it's existence in video stores, almost not worth the hassle.
Review of Mag Wheels
