Cool Runnings
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
It’s Tokyo Olympics time, so we’re getting a little into the season here at Films Fatale. Each weekday will involve a film relating to the Olympics in any way. They can be sports films or other genres, and real or fictitious.
Everyone loves a wholesome sports story, right? It’s why Jon Turteltaub’s Cool Runnings has had such an audience for decades. Somewhat based on the actual Jamaican bobsled team of the Calgary Olympics of 1988, Cool Runnings feels like the ultimate underdog story on paper: a team of Jamaicans, ranging from athletes of other events to other walks of life, try to beat the odds in a winter Olympics event (bobsledding, obviously) with a disgraced veteran of the sport having his own redemption story (John Candy at his best as Irv Blitzer). You just want to see everyone succeed, and the film kind of grants that, albeit in its own Hallmarkian way. By the end, it won’t matter how things wrap up, because everything is just so darn sweet.
On the contrary, I feel like Cool Runnings plays the “inspirational sports film” card a little too much (as do many films of this genre, to be fair). As a comedy, its jokes are exactly as expected, which doesn’t typically mean good news to me (who wants to hear the same joke or formula many times?); they’re the kind of jokes you’d find in pretty much any live action ‘90s film (specifically these Disney flicks of this era). When it comes to sports pictures, Cool Runnings just skims the surface of this world as well. Every note is placed just so, because they have been arranged this way before, so it must work again. Of course, Cool Runnings is based on real events, so you can’t deviate too far away from this story. However, it’s the way these events are laid out that can be changed. What is one reason people love sports? You never know how matches or events will end up, despite the same rules, players, and set up. I wish sports films realized this.
Cool Runnings has a lot of heart, but it also plays by the rules too much.
The Blitzer storyline is a little interesting, and it’s nice to see the late John Candy getting some slightly dramatic work shoved into a comedy. The bobsled team itself is incredibly likeable, and I think that’s what wins viewers over. If you just want to feel good, then Cool Runnings shall deliver. I think films can do this and more, though. There just isn’t much going on, outside of this focus on this whole underdog story, and this desperation to make you feel connected and supportive of everything here. It’s that inauthenticity of Disney films of the ‘90s, of course (and you can certainly do worse within this time period than Cool Runnings when it comes to live action Disney works, of course). They were a product of their time, and that’s where Cool Runnings has remained — outside of nostalgic rewatches and pick-me-up sessions. Less force could have made the film feel more like an achievement, because what takes place is astonishing (it just doesn’t really feel that way when you’re told how to feel).
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.