Down and Derby

A father (Greg Germann) enters his son in the famous Pinewood Derby (a toy car race popular among Cub Scouts) but won’t let the kid help; Dad is too busy playing out a lifelong rivalry with a neighboring father (Marc Raymond) whose own son is entered. There’s more than a grain of truth in Eric Hendershot’s script—parents shoving their kids aside and taking all the fun out of “friendly” competition—but the gags are much too strained, and performances under Hendershot’s direction are several yards over the top. Lauren Holly plays Germann’s harried, exasperated wife, and Perry Anzilotti and Ross Brockley are his neighbors who share his obsessive rivalry. Most of the fun is crammed into the races in the last few minutes; the rest would make a passable video rental for a family pizza night.