Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Let me start off by mentioning to the producers that this show is so bad that I believe I'm the 8th person on this site to take the time to write about it since 2004...this isn't bad, it's frightening...why are you keeping this garbage on the air??????? I'm voting 1 out of 10 because I can't use a negative number to rate it. Look at all the negative comments (shouldn't be too long)and all of them have pretty much said everything that needs to be said about that show.However I do want to add 2 others. Dwayne...I am amazed that with the way you treat people, no one has ever tried to pop you one in the Chiclets. I would condemn that kind of reaction, but I would understand it...come on, would you take that kind of demeaning, insulting and very often pointless behaviour from your boss? You must be a smart guy...you know what I'm talking about don't you...and if you don't, I wouldn't advertise it. And Boyd.....Great reputation...Got a word for ya "Television", do you want to know what it is??? Because apparently you don't. Aside from the fact that the way you run your business and the kind of work environment you provide are not on the same standard as everyone else, you find a way to bring all that even lower when you open your mouth. Has mentioned in previous comments, you have no clue what so ever on the production time for anything that's being built in there. What is it? Getting information from your client, your shop manager and making a bridge between your clients needs and your employees capacity to provide a safe product with the quality that deserves you NAME within a reasonable time period and leaving a reasonable margin for errors to accommodate life's little problems without making everyone including you, suffer over it...would be way too smart. And then after giving of course a delivery date on a very unrealistic time frame to build the car, you turn around and give your crew your vision on team spirit to repair any damage that your own inadequacies has caused to damage that wonderful race to the dead line. How can you ask anyone who works for you with a straight face "Sure come on, stay and work all night and all week around the clock if you have to, lets face it, you probably don't have a life, and if you do have one I don't really care about it because in case you haven't noticed planning and assessment isn't really a priority in a project for me"...AND YOU OWN THE PLACE...AND YOUR FACE, NAME, REPUTATION and lets not forget QUALITY OF THE PRODUCT AND PROCEDURES are plastered every week on television for all the competition past, present and future to enjoy. After seeing that show, I wouldn't even buy a coffee from you...A good reputation is like anything else...it doesn't last forever, and if you don't listen to what people are saying you'll go down the pipes. I don't like the show nor the way you run things but you don't look like a bad guy and you seem to think once in a while when you're not too busy with your head in the clouds thinking that your name and reputation stand for something and that nothing can tarnish it, well I got news for you Boyd. Turning your back to bad critics is expected but, to not learn from them is criminally stupid. I would imagine that to be that dumb would have to be crime...please don't be it...clean it up and you might have a chance, or don't and take one, we leave it to you.

It's true however. The personalities, at first, did not really appeal to me, rather I enjoyed watching the division of labor among the skilled tradesmen. I always felt that the world has no use for a man without experience, and some of these guys have a lot of experience through their years of specialization.Since I'll never be accused of socialism, the appearance of wealth is also magnetic on some level unaffected by social criticism.What kind of took me by surprise is the undiminished enthusiasm with which the guys transfer their shop squabbles into an international sphere (TV). Dwayne and Mike, especially, project strong personalities. Boyd just seems abrasive.

I've seen a few episodes of this and thought in the beginning that it would be like American Chopper, but I was severely disappointed. I won't be watching it again, after the episode I saw last night. The people in this are one dimensional and the mechanic I saw last night spoke in the same monotone the whole time. Comparing the two series American Chopper and American Hotrod, Boyd seems to have little or no interaction with work in the shop, unlike Senior who is always about the shop checking on the progress of projects and other bits and pieces. For people working with and designing engines, I find it hard to accept that in last nights episode for an Alumatub(?) they could make such a mistake as to mess up the dimensions of the manifold and have to have it welded to fill the gap. I just hope that the car was not going to a customer. Also there doesn't appear to be the same interaction between the team, that there is on American Chopper. Everyone in American Chopper has no problem with lending their specific talents to a project if they are needed, or indeed giving a hand out when required. In American hotrod they don't seem to interact at all, though there was the play fight to settle a dispute between two team members, one of whom later parted company with the workshop. The fight didn't really serve to do anything other than increase the animosity between the two.This series should be put out of our misery or come with a health warning.

It's pretty obvious that the producers of this show wanted to cash in on the success of 'American Chopper' by giving us a similar show for the car/hot rod fan. What they failed to give us, however, are the things that make 'American Chopper' so watchable, e.g. the likable, highly entertaining 'characters' who work in the shop, their obvious love of what they do, the beautiful things they create and the (apparently) genuine personal and professional dramas that happen along the way. As a result, American Hot Rod is nothing but a soulless shadow of the far superior 'American Chopper', and positively painful to watch. There is NOBODY on this show who is in any way likable or entertaining (Boyd, for example, hangs over the series like a soul-sucking, humorless black cloud), no-one seems to enjoy what they do (their every day on the job is a miserable slog), the things they create take WAY too long (in terms of screen time) and are at best ordinary and unimaginative and at worst horrible to look at (the 'Alumatub'? What the heck was that? The drawing was sleek and beautiful, the finished product was an ugly, stunted lump! What happened!?) and the obviously manufactured 'dramas' are just embarrassing.Shows like 'American Chopper' and 'Overhaulin' are fun to watch, because they feature true artists (with soul, character and real passion) who obviously love doing what they do no matter what the deadline. Boyd 'Mr Misery' Cottington and 'American Hot Rod' both need a huge injection of personality to even get in the same ball park. Unfortunately, with this crew, that's never going to happen. So until this show moves to another shop, stick with the Tuttles or Chip (the man) Foose...