Movie Review: F1

3.5 stars out of 5

Vroom vroom and all that. I do enjoy auto-racing movies (Grand Prix, Rush, Talladega Nights, Ford v Ferrari, Ferrari, Speed Racer, etc.) but am not obsessed with them (never saw Days of Thunder or any Fast and/or Furious flick). I guess it was my fandom of Brad Pitt that pulled me into this one, because the clichéd plot — one-last-shot-at glory veteran teams with overly-cocky popular rookie — and the name Jerry Schlockheimer looming in the credits didn’t promise great results.

Pitt’s character — let’s call him Speedy McCarracer (oh I never saw that animated Cars thing either) — says a couple of times, “We can’t win with this car.” And F1 couldn’t score more than 3.5 stars with this crew. Because director Joseph Kosinski has only been trusted with rehashing previous hits (Top Gun, Tron, Twister) and screenwriter Ehren Krueger is a grade-B horror guy. There are some top-flight actors here but Kosinski seems unable to elicit strong performances. So Pitt gives about 80 percent, grinning and looking handsome and sometimes lost in thought. But Javier Bardem as the Formula One team owner gives about 50 percent and so does team engineer Kerry Condon who was much, much better in The Banshees of Inisherin.

And yet… it never really dips below 3.5 stars either. I was entertained throughout by fast cars and crashes and international filming sites (though we mostly only see racetracks) and Pitt being Pitt, so against my better judgment, I found myself rooting for the team. And ultimately didn’t have to say F-you to F1.