Chill Factor

You almost have to respect a film as unapologetically dumb and derivative as "Chill Factor." But that doesn't mean you have to like it.

In fact, if this idiotic action-thriller accomplishes anything at all, it helps co-star Cuba Gooding Jr. continue to bury himself in cinematic waste. Gooding's on-screen track record since his Oscar-win-ning supporting turn in "Jerry Maguire" is less than spectacular — but this could be the low point. So far.

Also, aside from about 10 minutes worth of action (in the film's middle section, not even its finale), the movie is surprisingly thrill-less, with forced humor and zero chemistry between the two leads (Gooding and Skeet Ulrich).

And frankly, about the only real fun derived from the film — other than laughing at its preposterous story line, campy performances and even worse dialogue — is trying to spot exactly what earlier movies provided the inspiration for a number of scenes.

The plot is an odd melding of the first "Speed" movie and the superior French thriller "The Wages of Fear" as two strangers try to keep a toxic and seemingly explosive chemical weapon from falling into the wrong hands — and from being unleashed in Montana.

The substance, called "Elvis," by its creator (David Paymer), comes into the possession of short-order cook Tim Mason (Skeet Ulrich), who then has to prevent disgraced Army officer Andrew Brynner (Peter Firth) from getting his hands on the weapon and selling it to the highest bidder.

Making that task even more difficult is the fact that "Elvis" has to be kept below a certain temperature to prevent its release. So Tim enlists the help of Arlo (Gooding), an ice cream delivery man who reluctantly agrees (at gunpoint) to drive the weapon across the state in his refrigerated truck while being pursued by Brynner and his men.

Besides the sheer stupidity at work here, a major problem is that the setup takes so long. An explanatory prologue featuring Paymer and Firth's characters feels as long as a half-hour, and one decent action sequence can't dig it out of that hole.

Of course, it's not as if first-time director Hugh Johnson knows how to direct that scene — or how to coax good performances out of his cast, who are all one-note.

Firth is stereotypically villainous, while the too-bland Ulrich tries to rely on his eerie Johnny Depp looks instead of acting. But they're both better than Gooding, who is irritatingly loud and who comes off as being smug rather than sympathetic.

(The film's best performance actually might come from southern Utah, which substitutes for those well-known "desert" portions of Wyoming.)

"Chill Factor" is rated R for violent gunplay, hand-to-hand combat and explosions, considerable profanity, gory makeup effects and use of some crude sexual slang terms as well as some racial epithets (overheard on a car stereo).