The Cannonball Run 2 (1984): Dir: Hal Needham / Cast: Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Shirley MacLaine, Marilu Henner, Telly Savalas: A complete lack of imagination and script. The first Cannonball Run was low key trash but its undeserved success opened the door for this mess. The Sheik puts up money for another cannonball run and it attracts many talented actors who look less than talented here. It goes from bad to worse as a bunch of idiots race across country and narrowly avoid the law. Director Hal Needham previously collaborated with Burt Reynolds on the funnier and much more exciting Smokey and the Bandit but here he displays as little talent as possible. Burt Reynolds plays a hotshot jackass race car driver. Dom DeLuise plays his moron sidekick who has the uncanny ability to become a superhero at will. Too bad that he couldn't make himself disappear into a better film. Shirley MacLaine and Marilu Henner tarnish their resumes as a couple of nuns who hitch a ride with Reynolds and DeLuise. Telly Savalas has the misfortune of playing a pathetic villain whose henchmen put people head first through walls. They are just the beginning of countless names who allowed themselves to be talked into this garbage. So who wins the cannonball? Try placing this film on the ground and back over it with your car. You would be a bigger winner than anyone in the film. Score: 0 / 10

In agreement with most everyone. This film sequel is an embarrassment to the original, and a horrible budget waster, AND a Talent waster. So tons of big names were cast. So what? A huge insult to their talents. Only Telly Savalas was really convincing in his mob character. But he would deliver nothing less anyway. The entire script from A-Z is awful. Absolutely NO JOKES. I think I chuckled only once -- but it was BRIEF. I actually had to fast fwd along the way, hoping it would somehow improve. It didn't.Jamie Farr was decent enough, reprising his sheik persona. And I agree with SUNUBIT. It was obvious Burt and Don were doing this for the pay. And what crap. 'Best Little Whorehouse in Texas', which came out around the same time, was a box office hit for Burt! Perhaps Hal Needham figured Burt owed him a favor or something. And while it was dandy to see 'Daisy Duke' AKA Cathy Bach caressing alongside the iconic Susan Anton (former 70's supermodel turned actress), they too were given some pretty weak moments.Throwing the chimp in the action? What a cheap ripoff from 'Every Which Way But Loose'. I was seriously expecting an uncredited cameo of Clint Eastwood to suddenly emerge from the limo! To my recollection, during this films' original cinematic release, it was a total bomb. Any wonder.

This film is a mess from start to finish without the pretty girls and the nice cars.Yes, there was Jackie Chan and Doug McLure and Richard Keil, but they had nothing to offer the film as well as Catherine Back or Marilou Henner.This is simply a whole bunch of actors put onto a set or site with little to offer the film in any context aside of making some dumb ass comments and smiling and that's about all.The first one wasn't to good and this one is even worse.Thin plot with little to support it.The race is boring, the back story is boring, even the fact that nobody knows who wins is a real stinker.It's a letdown with a bunch of names heading this POS.

Despite being a very silly film I did think the original CANNONBALL RUN did have several amusing moments . Unfortunately this sequel takes all the bad points of the original and modifies aspects of its own that make it a far lesser film One aspect is the whole feel of the movie .The original was produced as a straightforward road movie similar to THE GUMBALL RALLY whilst here we see post referential lines and parodies of other movies like THE GODFATHER and SOME LIKE IT HOT which makes it resemble something more akin to HOT SHOTS and Repossessed while still retaining bits that are almost identical to the first one . For instance did we really need another set piece battle involving Jackie Chan and a bunch of bikers ? CANNONBALL RUN 2 does have a very funny scene where a bogus nun whispers into Dean Martin's ear who gives a shocked expression . He turns to Sammy Davis Jnr and whispers what was said . Sammy's jaw drops . " You are sick " . I genuinely thought that was amusing . Oh and we get the final silver screen appearance of old blue eyes though strangely I couldn't help thinking that someone edited this via another film . Perhaps Joe Pesci might consider that this wasn't a fitting swan song for Sinatra and he might do another film after LETHAL WEAPON 4 , certainly Sinatra deserved better as his last cinema role