Verdict: Lukewarm.

Details: Starring Skeet Ulrich and Cuba Gooding Jr. Directed by Hugh Johnson. Rated R for violence and language. 1 hour, 40 minutes.

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Review: "Chill Factor" is summer's last-gasp action movie. It's got one newly-found deadly chemical substance that'll blow and kill millions if not kept cold, two bickering Everyman heroes and, maybe, three times as many jokes as bullets.

The only way our onscreen "Lethal Weapon" knockoffs — steely-eyed Skeet Ulrich and motor-mouth Cuba Gooding Jr. — can keep that nasty chemical out of the hands of military hooligans is to stuff it inside a rickety old ice cream truck, put pedal to the metal and just go.

Pity, but that's where the fun stalls. Unlike "Speed" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," two films this movie sometimes more than apes, "Chill Factor" doesn't have enough gas to outgun its own concept.

There are lots of heated explosions, a dash of cliffhanging, plenty of pointed and sometimes even funny one-liners, a fair amount of evil eyebrow curling and way too much downtime in between.

Ulrich and Gooding, as mismatched, ragtag Joes thrust into deepest, darkest international intrigue, are nearly as good as any two guys can be with a script this lacking.

Ulrich can throw a believable, mean punch. And Gooding is simply made for this kind of over-the-top, smart-mouth antics.

But first-time big-screen director Hugh Johnson is constantly pulling back for long breathers.

For its part, the script has holes big enough to drive two ice cream trucks through.

Plus, "Chill Factor's" got a life lesson all dressed up in a trite fishing parable. It's so corn pone and delivered near the film's beginning with such sweeping earnestness you just know it's going to come back to haunt you by the third reel.

That alone ought to give you persistent, nagging chills.

— Bob Longino, Cox News Service

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