Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Michael Keaton, Matt Dillon, Breckin Meyer.
Dir: Angela Robinson.
Herbie the Love Bug teams up with former racing driver Maggie Payton, played by Lindsay Lohan, for this long-awaited comeback. Herbie starts the movie on the scrapheap at Crazy Dave’s Scrap And Salvage, and is destined for the crusher before he is grudgingly rescued by hard-up Maggie, who arrives looking for a bargain and, boy, does she get more than she bargains for. She has no idea of his illustrious past as a racing car, though the audience is treated to a montage of newspaper cuttings charting his glittering career, including a paparazzi shot of Herbie and K.I.T.T. hanging out.
But this is the 21st century and he’s all revved and ready to get back on the racetrack. After a quick pit stop at Kev’s (Dodgeball’s Justin Long) Lube Shop, Herbie is up to his old tricks. Despite being well into his 40s it’s clear that this Bug has lost none of his magical tricks. They’re all there, from his trademark wheelies to oil-squirting and cracking skulls with his bonnet.
Maggie’s dad Ray Peyton Snr (Michael Keaton) and brother Ray Peyton Jnr (Breckin Meyer) run a down-at-heel Nascar racing team and have banned Maggie from the track. But of course Herbie drives her to a race-meet quicker than a flicker of his headlamp eyelids and she shows the boys how it is done.
The baddie is dastardly Nascar champ Tim Murphy, played by the still-supergorgeous Matt Dillon, who definitely has a lot more going under his bonnet. Like Dick Dastardly in The Wacky Races he possesses a bag of tricks dirtier than a mechanics overalls and he’s not scared of using them to destroy this four-wheeled upstart. The gloves come off after Trip’s ego is dented in a street race against Herbie. War is declared as he prepares to risk his title and public humiliation in a winner-takes-all showdown.
Can Maggie overcome her father’s misgivings, Trip’s treachery and her own fears to win her dream race? The story may be obvious but there are some cute moments. When Herbie spots a modern Beetle he instantly falls in love, but Maggie hisses: ’’She’s far too young for you’’. While this is obviously a kiddies’ film, Lohan’s often in a butt-skimming skirt. And after a drive in Trip’s supercar a flushed Maggie sighs: ’’That was the ride of my life’’.
This remake of the ’classic’ Herbie films injects irl power ethos and 21st Century effects with some panache. But what could be a rip-roaring adventure soon becomes bogged down in plot cliches and a laughable script. Teen star Lohan seems oddly flat and uninterested in giving depth to what could be a great role, though Dillon clearly has fun as the token bad guy.
So while the star’s tweenie fans will no doubt love it, it seems this Herbie is stalled from the start.