Herbie: Fully Loaded is a 2005 American sports comedy film directed by Angela Robinson from a screenplay by Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant, Alfred Gough, and Miles Millar. The film is the sixth and final installment in the Herbie film series, following the television film The Love Bug (1997), and the first theatrical film since Herbie Goes Bananas (1980). It serves as a direct sequel to the previous films. The film stars Lindsay Lohan, Justin Long, Breckin Meyer, Matt Dillon, and Michael Keaton. It features cameos by many NASCAR drivers, including Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and Dale Jarrett.
Herbie: Fully Loaded had its premiere at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on May 10, 2005, and was released in the United States on June 22, 2005, by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but positive reception from fans and audiences of the Herbie franchise. The film was a box-office success, grossing over $144 million against a budget of $50 million.
Plot[]
Herbie, a Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own, is decommissioned and towed to a junkyard after losing several races. Maggie Peyton, the youngest member of the Peyton racing clan, graduates from college and is preparing to take up an internship with ESPN. Her father, Ray Peyton Sr., takes her to the junkyard to buy her a car as a graduation present, and she chooses Herbie after he wriggles free of a crane, landing on top of the car she originally selected. Herbie then takes Maggie to her mechanic friend Kevin, who agrees to take Herbie to a car show to buy parts. Herbie tricks Maggie into disguising herself in a racing suit and helmet and challenging NASCAR champion Trip Murphy to an impromptu race, which Herbie wins by a hair.
Kevin happily suggests that Maggie should race full-time, but Ray Sr. is concerned, having forbidden Maggie to race due to a street racing accident years ago. Trip becomes obsessed with Herbie and the mysterious driver and organizes a local racing competition to lure Herbie back for a rematch. Maggie and Kevin enter the event, with Herbie being given a new 'street racer look' and new parts. Herbie and Maggie easily defeat the other competitors and qualify for the final match with Trip, but when Trip talks Maggie into racing for pink slips, Herbie's jealousy over Maggie's desire to win Trip's stock car causes him and Maggie to lose the race. Maggie is publicly embarrassed, Herbie is towed away, and both Kevin and Ray Sr. express their disappointment with Maggie over her respective actions.
However, encouraged by her friend Charisma, Maggie decides to race professionally. She tries to buy Herbie back from Trip, but finds that Trip has entered Herbie in a demolition derby. Desperate to save Herbie from destruction, Maggie rushes to the arena, runs onto the field while the derby is in progress, and pleads with Herbie to forgive her. After saving Maggie from being crushed by a monster truck, the two manage to escape the arena and win the derby. They return to Kevin's workshop, where the badly-damaged Herbie collapses from exhaustion.
Meanwhile, the Peyton racing team may have to forfeit an upcoming NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race due to financial troubles and two crashes by the team's driver and Maggie's brother, Ray Peyton Jr.. Ray Sr. refuses to let Maggie drive for the team, but Ray Jr. decides on his own that she will take his place and sends the Team Peyton crew to help her and Kevin rebuild Herbie into a NASCAR racer. At the race track, Maggie and Herbie have a heart-to-heart conversation, whilst Trip ominously warns Maggie that the race will be dangerous.
Herbie and Maggie start the race slowly, but they eventually catch up and begin passing the other cars before Maggie makes her first pit stop. Meanwhile, Ray Sr., who has been watching the race at home, decides to join the team to act as Maggie's crew chief. Back on track, Herbie is soon boxed in by some other cars, but escapes by driving directly over Tony Stewart’s car, damaging Herbie's oil system. Maggie makes another pit stop and the team hurriedly extracts a replacement part from the yellow New Beetle, which Herbie has been eyeing amorously throughout the film, owned by Sally, one of Team Peyton's few remaining sponsors, though the jerry-rigged oil system is fragile.
With the last few laps remaining, Maggie and Herbie catch up to Trip. Trip, bent on defeating Herbie once and for all, tries to force Maggie into the track wall when she tries to pass him, but crashes himself when she slams on the brakes during his next attempt, resulting in him hitting Jeff Gordon and flipping onto his roof. Herbie passes Trip's car, now upside down on the track, by climbing onto the catch fencing. After landing back on the track, Maggie and Herbie take the chequered flag, and Maggie becomes the next Peyton to win a NASCAR race. Maggie is congratulated by her father and brother, and Trip (who is believed to be insane when he tries to convince others that Herbie is sentient) is driven away in an ambulance as Maggie and Kevin kiss. The film ends with Ray speaking with Herbie and Sally's New Beetle (which is revealed to be sentient as well), telling them not to stay out too long on their date as Herbie and Maggie have another race coming up.
Cast[]
- Lindsay Lohan as Margaret "Maggie" Peyton, a college graduate who later falls for Herbie, before becoming a NASCAR driver at the end of the film.
- Justin Long as Kevin, Maggie's love interest.
- Matt Dillon as Trip Murphy, a NASCAR driver who wants to prevent Herbie from winning. He drives a Pontiac GTO, a Chevrolet Corvette, and a Chevrolet Monte Carlo that he uses in NASCAR.
- Michael Keaton as Ray Peyton Sr., Maggie's father.
- Breckin Meyer as Ray Peyton, Jr., Maggie's brother
- Cheryl Hines as Sally
- Thomas Lennon as Larry Murphy
- Jimmi Simpson as Crash, Trip Murphy's tech assistant
- Jill Ritchie as Charisma
- Jeremy Roberts as Crazy Dave
- Monica Manning as Monica Armstrong