'RACE THE SUN' CHUGS ON PAST USUAL CLICHES.Byline: Stephen Holden The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Hollywood films about teen-age competition are so desperate to convey the vicarious vicarious /vi·car·i·ous/ (vi-kar´e-us) 1. acting in the place of another or of something else. 2. occurring at an abnormal site. vi·car·i·ous adj. 1. thrill of winning despite impossible odds that when one comes along that doesn't slavishly slav·ish adj. 1. Of or characteristic of a slave or slavery; servile: Her slavish devotion to her job ruled her life. 2. recycle every cliche of the genre, each refusal to conform is a little breath of fresh air. "Race the Sun" may belong to the cookie-cutter school of "Rocky"-style movies with a "teen beat." But its hapless high school losers who gain self-esteem by finishing a grueling 2,000-mile car race through the Australian desert are recognizable enough so that one doesn't feel like a manipulated fool rooting for them. These sympathetic underdogs are a bunch of sullen working-class teen-agers of mixed ethnic background who attend Kona Pali High School in Hawaii. Derisively de·ri·sive adj. Mocking; jeering. de·ri  sive·ly adv.de·ri nicknamed "lolos" by their more well-heeled peers, they seem headed nowhere until Sandra Beecher (Halle Berry), a spunky spunk·y adj. spunk·i·er, spunk·i·est Informal Spirited; plucky. spunk i·ly adv. new science teacher, arrives at the school. Encouraged by Sandra, eight students pool their skills to design and build a solar-powered car as their group science project. When their rickety homemade vehicle, the Cockroach cockroach or roach, name applied to approximately 3,500 species of flat-bodied, oval insects forming the order Blattodea. Cockroaches have long antennae, long legs adapted to running, and a flat extension of the upper body wall that conceals the , wins a local competition, they go to Australia to compete in an international race. Because the movie, directed by Charles T. Kanganis from a screenplay by Barry Morrow, is roughly based on a true story, its details don't have an overly familiar ring. It helps that the solar-powered vehicles shown puttering through the blazing Australian desert are neither speedy nor glamorous. The movie doesn't waste time admiring the technology at the expense of human drama, of which there is plenty, none of it overblown. During the 2,000-mile trek, the Cockroach weathers one obstacle after another, including a freak dust storm, a fire, illness and temperatures of more than 115 degrees. Tagging along as a chaperone chaperone /chap·er·one/ (shap´er-on) someone or something that accompanies and oversees another. molecular chaperone is Frank Machi (James Belushi), the school's cynical shop teacher, who belatedly learns to believe in his students. Frank and Sandra are both divorced and unattached. In a refreshing touch, the two don't end up in a clinch. THE FACTS The film: "Race the Sun" (PG; includes some mild vulgarity). The stars: Halle Berry, Jim Belushi. Behind the scenes: Directed by Charles T. Kanganis. Running time: One hour, 45 minutes. Playing: Citywide. Our rating: Two stars |
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