Smokey and the Bandit 2 (1980)
Film:
DVD:

Written by Jerry Belson & Brock Yates, based on a story by Michael Kane
Directed by Hal Needham
Starring Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Dom DeLuise

Features:

• Original trailer
  

Released by Universal
Rating: PG
Region: 1
Anamorphic: Yes.

My Advice: Borrow it.

How have our buddies been doing since we last saw them? Well, Snowman's (Reed) doing great--he's off racing semis. When Big and Little Enos (Pat McCormick & Paul Williams) go looking for the Bandit (Reynolds), the Snowman's who they find first. Apparently Los Enos have a proposition--pick up a package in Miami and cart it to Texas. No biggie, right? Well, there are complications. First of all, Bandit's in a bit of state of decay after his breakup with Frog (Field). And Frog's about to marry Junior (Mike Henry) again. When the only way to get Bandit back in shape (and sober) is to call in Frog, she's off to assist--and Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Gleason) is certainly pissed about the whole thing. Then there's the matter of the package--which happens to be very large and pregnant.

Brother Dave Gardner said many wise things in his day, but one of the wisest was perhaps that you can't do that again--but you can do something similar. That's about all you get with this flick: something similar. It's the perfect example of how to half-ass a sequel, evidenced by doing half the box office of the original. It's basically the same film all over again, with some attempts at advancing the characters--but they're just that: attempts. Some of the jokes are even the same: how sad is it to put Gleason's same lines back in his mouth, prefaced by "As I've said before?" The film is just a shadow of its predecessor.

The DVD does little to further the situation, having only the theatrical trailer. However considering the first film on DVD has about the same thing, there's little hope of getting anything else here. Everything that I would want on this edition, I'd prefer on the original--although I'm sure you could whip up a boxed set of some kind that might entice me. It's just so nice to remember when Reynolds had a career.

Reynolds completists, or completist fans of this type of flick--you know what I'm talking about, should nab it, since this is as good as it's going to get for some time. Everyone else should borrow their copy.