Race the Sun (1996)
FILM REVIEW;Underdogs Don't Melt Under the Desert Sun
Hollywood films about teen-age competition are so desperate to convey the vicarious thrill of winning despite impossible odds that when one comes along that doesn't slavishly 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 nicknamed "lolos" by their more well-heeled peers, they seem headed nowhere until Sandra Beecher (Halle Berry), a spunky 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, 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.
Daniel Webster (Casey Affleck), the team's captain and the designer of the Cockroach, is a dreamy-eyed amateur draftsman who has an edgy relationship with his stepsister Cindy (Eliza Dushku), an emotionally wounded child of divorce with a potential drinking problem. Also along on the trip are Eduardo (Anthony Ruivivar), a macho hothead; Gilbert (J. Moki Cho), an overweight computer nerd, and Uni (Sara Tanaka), a diminutive math student who pilots the Cockroach over some of the most challenging terrain.
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. Another adversary is the American corporate sponsor (Kevin Tighe), a mean-spirited go-getter who is so embarrassed by the Hawaiian team he tries to get them disqualified.
Tagging along as a 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.
"Race the Sun" is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). The dialogue includes some mild vulgarity.