Luke Perry changes zip codes from Rodeo Drive to rodeo country with this cornpone bull-riding tale, which should please fans of the sport mighty fine but hold little appeal for those north of the Mason-Dixon line. 8 Seconds follows the true story of rider Lane Frost (Perry), particularly his career-long "rivalry" with an indomitable bull, but fails to contextualize Frost's greatness for an audience unfamiliar with this intensely regional sport. The story follows a familiar arc, taking Frost from a decent, aw-shucks kid to a jaded pro dogged by personal and professional demons, none of which play with any depth in Perry's hands. Interesting insider secrets do trickle down through the narrative, especially as Frost's father (James Rebhorn) dispassionately analyzes his son's performance, never giving Frost the fatherly support you are meant to believe he needed to be a complete man. But with Perry setting the tone at lukewarm (if you will), director John G. Avildsen can't do for bull riding what his previous two sports franchises, Rocky and The Karate Kid, did for boxing or martial arts. Maybe it was just too hard to see a temperamental bull as a villain worth rooting against.
