It is a wonderful example of how one can take an established formula (in this case, the racing movie) and paint in the numbers without adding a single thing.

Anyone even remotely familiar with the first two films (or any racing movie, for that matter) will be able to predict at least 20 events in this film.

Hilarious moments which I will cherish:

-- The first shot of our hero, who is described in the film as 17 going on 18 but looks like he could be pushing 30. INSTANT LAUGHTER.

-- The captain of the football team is played by Zachery Ty Bryan of Home Improvement fame (!!!!). INSTANT LAUGHTER.

-- When the captain starts fighting with our hero because he was flirting with the captain's girlfriend, one of them asks, "How do we settle this?" The girlfriend says, "...how about a race?" INSTANT LAUGHTER.

-- When the stakes for said race are being debated, the girl says, "How about me? The winner... gets me." INSTANT LAUGHTER AND CAT CALLS FROM THE AUDIENCE.

-- When our hero starts catching up to the captain, the girlfriend (who is RIDING IN THE PASSENGER SEAT DURING THE RACE) turns to the captain and pouts "I thought you loved me!" INSTANT LAUGHTER.

-- When our hero gets ready to pass the captain, I immediately turned to my friend and said, "God, please wink at the girl as he passes." God grants me my wish. INSTANT LAUGHTER.

-- When the cops show the video to our hero of him destroying property with his car on a particularly big and expensive-looking stunt, the hero sassily deadpans, "Can I get a copy of that?" INSTANT LAUGHTER (for the wrong reasons).

And all of these moments ARE IN THE FIRST SEVEN MINUTES.

Other things to laugh at:
- A product placement for iPod that is comically obvious.
- Bow Wow having some stereotypically black lines, mostly consisting of variations of the word "Damn" and "bruh".
- Stereotypical cross-culture hijinks (to a Southern guy, food in Japan looks WEIRD! to a Southern guy, taking off your shoes before entering a classroom is WEIRD!).
- The dad who supports at least three dad stereotypes: (1) He abandoned his wife. (2) He doesn't want his son to "repeat the same mistakes I made." (3) He's drunk and/or with a hooker-- bonus points for this movie for including both! Happy Father's Day, from your friends in Tokyo Drift!
- The REALLY awful and gratuitous rap/techno music used CONSTANTLY. One cool chase scene would be satisfying...if "Bawitdaba" wasn't the absolute loudest thing coming out of the theater speakers. EXCEPTION: the HILARIOUSLY GREAT use of that Dipset whistle song at a key moment in the film.
- Thankfully, these people live in a world where every potential conflict is solved by having a race. At least six or seven times does someone say a variation of "let's race."
- The shot of our hero doing a cool move, and an onlooker says very deadpan to the onlooker next to him, "Not bad."
- The main girl's jawline. Jesus, that woman could crush a soda can with that thing.

The only thing that I really dug in this film was Sonny Chiba, hamming up every scene he's in. And the cars were cool, if that's your thing. But you will recognize every cliche, every single joke, every move this movie makes at least five steps in advance.

My advice: if you go with four or five of your friends and provide running commentary to the movie, you will have a blast. So call em up and get out there.

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