A crazy-cool screech of a movie, "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" is a complete gas, a mad cross-cultural twist on a near-forgotten film genre that keeps your eyes glued to the screen even as your mind is screaming "Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!"

The only tragedy is that everyone can't see it at a drive-in. This movie was made to be enjoyed while kicking back on vinyl or ignored while steaming up the back windows.

Director Justin Lin has essentially airlifted an old dead-man's-curve rebellious teen hot-rod flick and dumped it in the middle of ultra-modern Japan with its cascades of techno chatter, skyscraper walls of glittering lights and teeming streets filled with people. Yikes, what a contrast.

And who should get dumped into the driver's seat but a good-old boy from Alabama, Lucas Black ("Friday Night Lights"), a fellow surly enough to look dangerous while holding a socket wrench and cool enough to carry the ghost of Steve McQueen when he gets behind the driver's wheel.

To say this is the best of the "F&F" movies isn't really taking much of a risk, but it does make the other two films seem as if they were about moped racing.

This movie isn't about going fast, it's about skidding fast, about controlling cars when they are aching to lose control. As a result, the driving is just freaking nuts to watch.