As a wise-cracking sky-diving instructor, Charlie Sheen wears his usual look of someone who has just been asked a really difficult question (like: how come your career has lasted this long?).

Some of the comic writing undercuts the preposterous story.

You've gotta hand it to Terminal Velocity: This movie may be dumb as a box of shredded wheat, but it has the damnedest action sequence I've seen since Arnold Schwarzenegger blasted the bad guy with the missile in True Lies.

Although the realism is at a staggering low, the screenplay is surprisingly clever, using quite a few jokes and suspenseful situations for impressive comedic effect.