John Travolta won a Worst Actor Razzie for his turns in Trading Paint (aka Burning Rubber) and The Fanatic (a joy for another day) so you might expect this film to be terrible and Travolta’s acting ditto. But acting awards good and bad often go to the undeserving, which is the case here. Travolta is not bad, nor is anyone in this film, nor is the film itself. It just doesn’t have much in the way of sizzle. It’s a drama about car racing so I’m probably contractually obliged to say “low octane” at some point. That was that point.
Travolta plays Sam Munroe, a guy who runs a smalltime veteran race-car outfit. Sam used to be a great driver but these days he’s mostly behind the scenes. The driving he leaves to his son, Cam (Toby Sebastian), who continues the family rivalry with Bob “Lead Foot” Linsky (Michael Madsen), who has more money and fewer scruples than Sam or Cam and gives them more than a run for their money on the track.
Cam is a good driver and has ambitions for himself, wife and new baby. He wants to escape from the trailer park where they currently live, and so when Linsky makes him an offer to come and race for him, Cam accepts, throwing a king-size wrench into family relations by doing so.
Well that’s what it says in the plot summaries. In fact nothing in this film is particularly big stakes. Yes, Cam walks out and goes to race with rival Bob. And, yes, dad Sam sulks like a baby and won’t speak to his son. And then Cam gets involved in a terrible smash that puts him in hospital and things seem to escalate exponentially.
But in the end it all gets smoothed over in time for a big final race that is a mano-a-mano inevitability.
Drama is about discord but in Trading Paint (a reference to the moment when cars jostle up against each other on the track) the conflicts are too easily resolved and the bumps in the road too easily negotiated. This throws the emphasis on the acting and characters. Travolta, as said, is fine, a touch folksy – he probably says “heck” a few times – Sebastian is also perfectly serviceable as Cam. Michael Madsen (who died only a few days ago as I write) puts in one of those Michael Madsen performances. He phones it in, in other words, but at least he’s phoning in good stuff. Linsky is a villain but Madsen shades him with good-guy swagger and some winning grins.
Shania Twain is in this film, everybody. Not entirely sure why, apart from being part of a backstory for Sam – first wife dead in a car crash while Sam was driving and Twain’s Becca now offering Sam a second chance at love, if he’ll let her in. But there is very little for Twain to do except smile a lot and make emollient noises. Towards the end the strain on her face is clearly visible.
This is clearly meant to be more of a film than turned out in the end. These are household names, after all, and the support cast has a savoury tang too – Kevin Dunn as Sam’s grizzled old mechanic Stumpy (a name straight out of a John Ford western) and Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Cam’s ballsy wife.
But look at the race scenes, of which there are several. Director Karzan Kader fails to inject any sense of speed or jeopardy into them, or any notion that great skill is required to pilot a metal hulk around a track while avoiding collision with fellow drivers all trying to do the same. They’re emblematic of the whole film. Not bad, just not in any real sense good.
Trading Paint aka Burning Rubber – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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© Steve Morrissey 2025
