Premise: Rival local car dealerships feud and maneuver for dominance in the used car market.
Beyond being a really fun comedy, Used Cars is fun for how Robert Zemeckis reveals himself in it. Most of this movie felt pretty anonymous; like anyone could’ve made it. I was enjoying it but nothing signified that it was made by anyone I should remember. Then the climactic convoy happens and reminded me what Zemeckis does. That’s an unexpectedly epic and ambitious sequence. A skuzzy little movie about car dealerships shouldn’t have the scope of a Mad Max chase through the desert. It’s crazy how I watch this and it seems so obvious that his next two movies would be Romancing the Stone and Back to the Future. Zemeckis can’t help but make big movies. Even his small moves feel big. Think about Forrest Gump. That should be a little character movie, but with Zemeckis making it, it becomes a Boomer epic that cost $100 million in 2022 dollars to make.
And what’s with giant car chases in 1980? You’ve got Used Cars with dozens of cars racing across the desert. Also in 1980 is the insane Blues Brothers chase scene that destroyed what seems like dozens of cop cars. Cannonball Run the next year too. There was something in the water. Was it all because they say how well Smokey and the Bandit did?
Anyway, Used Cars is a very easy to enjoy movie. A couple things don’t hold up very well. Raunchy 80’s comedies all have that problem. I sort of watch any of them with 10% forgiveness built in. It’s the perfect moment to get Kurt Russell in this movie. Right before he becomes a real leading man, yet he’s still young enough that he’s trying to shake the Disney Child Star perception. That probably motivated him to be seedier in this role than he would’ve been even a couple years later. Then that climactic sequence gives the movie a “where’d that come from?” scope I didn’t expect.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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