A history of lame car chases on film. By Bryan Reesman

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Crazy car chases rule, but low-octane pursuits make for excruciating viewing. Derrick Hopkins, editor of Varaces.com, a site devoted to more than 700 movie car chases, and co-owner of DTMMovies.com, looks for quality car matchups, sizzling stunts and action, and story context, but he disdains most computer effects. Here, he analyzes scenes that never upshift.

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Driven (2001)

The movie's bad guy inexplicably flees a car show in a Formula One and races down Chicago streets before Sylvester Stallone follows him. "And why would Stallone jump in another to chase after him?" gripes Hopkins. "What are these guys doing? That whole movie just [ticked] me off. None of it makes sense."

Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

Hopkins calls the 1974 original "the greatest chase movie ever," but the sequel blows the climactic car jump on a bridge with CGI chicanery. "In the original, the director drove the car himself, and the car got almost completely destroyed. But these guys got $90 million to make a movie, and they couldn't even crash a car. It's not even a good CGI jump."

I, Robot (2004)

Great car, lame usage. Will Smith is driving a futuristic Audi in a straight tunnel, changing lanes really fast to avoid pursuing robots. "At one point, the car does a 360-degree spin. He couldn't be controlling it, and what you're watching on-screen doesn't even look like a real car at certain points."

I Spy (2002)