Asphalt Burning
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Drinking, cursing, reckless driving in inept comedy.
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Asphalt Burning
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What's the Story?
ASPHALT BURNING begins as Roy Gunderson (Anders Baasmo Christiansen), a Norwegian race car driver, parties with his rowdy motorhead friends the night before his wedding. The plan is for Roy and some friends to "race" the next morning right before the ceremony, and the winner, presumably Roy, will marry Sylvia (Kathrine Thorberg Johansen), his fiancée and mother of their baby. But the night before he's seduced while drunk by Robyn (Alexandra Maria Lara), who, it seems, was once Sylvia's girlfriend. After Robyn entraps the incapacitated Roy into kissing her, she tells Sylvia and Sylvia calls the wedding off. Robyn is a racecar driver, too, so she challenges Roy to bring his car and crew to race for Sylvia's hand on a famous track in Germany. The winner, she says, can marry Sylvia. Since Sylvia has just rejected Roy, this seems confusing, but preparations proceed without Sylvia's objection. Roy's car needs to be rebuilt. Roy meets a Swedish Roy (Bjorn Kjellman) and a German Roy (Kostja Ullmann), and they all tag along for the big race. Racing ensues.
Is It Any Good?
Asphalt Burning is beyond dreadful, a story about irrational people making bad decisions. A woman calls off her wedding after learning her fiancé kissed her flirtatious, entrapping ex-girlfriend when he was falling down drunk. Sylvia calls the wedding off, so why does she allow him to race her ex-girlfriend and offer herself as the trophy to the winner? And why would Roy want a woman who will only marry him if he wins a race? Divorce surely looms in their future.
None of the movie's subsequent frenzied activity is motivated, so there's little to keep us emotionally involved. Even with the random corpse of a little old lady added to the mix, the movie is so inept it can't even squeeze a comic thread out of a misplaced dead body. Robyn's friend Lemmy, a menacing bully, is dispatched to threaten Roy and his friends, demanding Roy race him. For no good reason, Roy does. If you want to see a souped-up 1967 Mustang go flying over a river, this is your movie.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the intended audience of this movie. Who was it made for? How can you tell?
This is a foreign movie; do you think some of the humor doesn't work due to cultural differences? Why or why not?
What's the appeal of racing movies? Is it just fun to watch cars drive fast, or is there more to these movies?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: January 2, 2021
- Cast: Anders Baasmo Christiansen , Kathrine Thorberg Johansen , Kostja Ullmann , Alexandra Maria Lara , Bjorn Kjellman
- Director: Hallvard Braein
- Studio: Netflix
- Genre: Comedy
- Run time: 100 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: February 17, 2023
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