This is an easy one. Do you like fast cars? Vin Diesel? Really loud music? Vin Diesel driving a fast car playing really loud music? Dude, you are so there!

The Fast and the Furious is in for a critical spanking, but it will find its audience, and it will be loved. What it lacks in logic it more than makes up for with fantastic racing sequences. The first of these scenes has four expertly driven cars hijacking a big rig - all while driving over fifty miles an hour on nighttime Los Angeles streets.

It is a breathtaking sequence. Only Los Angeles residents will note that: 1) there are not four competent, much less expert, drivers on Southern California roads at any given time. 2) every other downtown street is closed for construction at night, and 3) truck drivers kill motorists for fun - mess with them and die. It's not a premise that bears close inspection.

Speaking of close inspection, the authorities send in Officer Brian Spindler (Paul Walker) to infiltrate the Los Angeles racing underground and find the hijackers. Spindler is a Ken Doll look-alike who bets the pink slip to his car on his first race. You just know he is going to get his butt kicked, and he does. More importantly, however, he wins the trust of Dominic Toretto (Diesel), the alpha male of the street racing world, and Spindler's best shot at finding the hijackers.

As with most racing films, The Fast and the Furious loses direction when there's no one behind the wheel. After watching the lovingly choreographed, high adrenaline races and chases, it's hard to get involved with the characters. Director Rob Cohen makes an effort to humanize his drivers, but they are not the real focus. After a few minutes with them, you'll be longing for someone to hit the accelerator.

That said, it's a shame more time could not have been spent with the relationship between Dominic and his racer girlfriend, Letty (Girlfight's Michelle Rodriguez). Pairing Diesel and Rodriguez is inspired. Both dominate the screen with the threat of explosive hostility. Unfortunately, they never get to unleash this power onscreen. It makes you wish they'd been given their own film.

Paul Walker hangs in there as the film's hero, but Officer Spindler is just not interesting. He's every rookie cop who has ever learned about true honor from a criminal. It's a pretty thankless role, but it might win him some recognition if not many young female fans. Even his romance with Mia takes place off screen. The audience knows more about the work he put into his car.

But, let's be fair. It's the cars that save The Fast and the Furious. As soon as the theater fills with the roar of engines, the film finds its purpose again. The final racing sequences will make you forget about the headache you got from the noise of the last car chase, and that's about all you can ask for.

--- Heather Feher