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STUDIO: Lions Gate
MSRP: $9.98
RATED: NR
RUNNING TIME: 50 Minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES: From zilch to none.
The Pitch
"It’s like the NASCA: the IMAX Experience – only with Indy cars and no IMAX."
The Humans
Indy cars and Hoosier Hicks.
The Nutshell
This documentary takes a look at the 24 hours preceding the finish of an Indianapolis 500. Filmmakers talk with drivers, crew and fans about the 500.
The Package
Not much meat to this – and that’s unfortunate. Lions Gate did nothing to enhance this disk beyond the marginally cool cover. Inside there are no bonus features. The only half way impressive thing is the audio.
The sound does its best to capture the essence of the 500. However, since the documentary is more about the goings-on at Indy, and not the race itself, the bone-crushing audio of cars racing the track (like the NASCAR: The IMAX Experience disk) isn’t there.
There’s a reason the general population thinks racing fans are hicks…
The Lowdown
The feature is rather good. It clocks in at only 50 minutes which apparently is the perfect length. It never drags and leaves you wanting a little more (although, had you gotten more it probably would have overstayed its welcome).
The feature chronicles the last 24 hours that drivers, sponsors and fans spend before the race. The cameras don’t follow any specific people, instead we follow the masses. The filmmakers constantly editing between the various groups they are chronicling. One fantastic scene edits between an Indy spokesman talking about their fans and a strip tease one drunk is performing on top of a motor home in front of 100s of drunken onlookers.
#1 souvenir item at this year’s Indy? The Danica Patrick blowup doll!
We see inside last minute car changes, sponsor golf tournaments and intimate drinking sessions and cookouts. For the most part we don’t see or learn anything that we couldn’t witness if we walked the streets outside the track on Memorial Day weekend and then watched the evening news. However, the filmmakers edit it together nicely – making it an enjoyable spectacle.
Ultimately, the movie seems to be documenting a week long carnival more than a sporting event. Apparently, that’s just part of the magic of Indy.
Purdue is known for two stupid things. 1) The World’s Largest Drum. 2) Giving me an undergraduate degree.