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‘Drive’ starring Ryan Gosling: What the critics are saying

With an over 80 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes , the majority of critics think "Drive" is worth the hype.

The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday gave the film four stars. And although the lady-pleasing Gosling recently said he would rather be making babies than films, Hornaday calls the actor's performance a "slow, white-hot burn":

Roger Ebert called "Drive" "an elegant exercise in style," awarding the film three-and-a-half out of four stars. Both Hornaday and Ebert say Gosling is reminiscent of Steve McQueen.

The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy , who reviewed the film from Cannes, puts the film into a special category. He writes that "Drive" is "a spasmodically violent, creatively cast and off-center fast-cars-and-crime drama [that] belongs to a rarified genre subset of stripped down, semi-arty and quasi-existentialist action films."

Based on the small amount of negative reviews, it seems that the film’s violence didn’t get some critics’ engines going.

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times praised Refn, the actors and the film's use of Los Angeles as a backdrop. "Less user-friendly is the film's disturbing violence," he writes. "'Drive' doesn't spend a lot of time on mayhem, but what does get put on screen is intense, unsettling and increasingly grotesque and graphic as the film goes on."

New York Magazine's David Edelstein was a bit harsher in his critique, writing 'Drive' is "as dumb as ... 'Conan the Barbarian' but awash in neon-lit nightscapes and existential dread, with killings so graphic that you can't entirely believe what you're gagging at."

I’m sure some viewers will also have trouble stomaching what some critics see as gratuitous violence. But it’s safe to say the many positives will still “Drive” viewers to the box office.

Watch the trailer below.

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Movie Review | 'Drive'

Fasten Your Seat Belts, the Chevy Is Taking Off

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By A. O. SCOTT

• Sept. 15, 2011

A long time ago, as a young filmmaker besotted with the hard-boiled pleasures of classic Hollywood, Jean-Luc Godard claimed that all anyone needed to make a film was a girl and a gun . In his new movie, “Drive,” Nicolas Winding Refn, in thrall to a later Hollywood tradition, tests out a slightly different formula. In this case all you need is a guy and a car.

In the brilliant opening sequence the formula seems to work beautifully. The car is, of all things, a late-model silver Chevy Impala, the kind of generic, functional ride you might rent at the airport on a business trip. The guy is Ryan Gosling — his character has no known proper name, and is variously referred to as “the driver,” “the kid” and “him” — and to watch him steer through Los Angeles at night is to watch a virtuoso at work. Behind the wheel of a getaway car after an uninteresting, irrelevant and almost botched robbery, the driver glides past obstacles and shakes off pursuers, slowing down as often as he accelerates and maintaining a steady pulse rate even as the soundtrack winds up the tension to heart attack levels.

The virtuosity on display is also the director’s, of course, and that, for better and for worse, is pretty much the point of “Drive,” the coolest movie around and therefore the latest proof that cool is never cool enough. Mr. Winding Refn is a Danish-born director (“Bronson,” “Valhalla Rising,” the “Pusher” trilogy), some of whose earlier films have inspired ardent, almost cultish devotion in cinephile circles.

His own love of movies can hardly be doubted, and there’s nothing wrong with his taste. He likes the stripped-down highway movies of the 1960s and ’70s — the kind that Quentin Tarantino celebrated in “Death Proof” — and also the atmospheric masculine melancholy associated with Michael Mann . You might also catch a hint of Paul Schrader’s “American Gigolo” and, with respect to the story rather than to the visual style, a whole bunch of Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone westerns.

Mr. Gosling’s driver, like Mr. Eastwood’s Man With No Name , is a solitary figure with no background or connections but with skills that defy explanation. In addition to his getaway gigs, he drives stunt cars for movies — the source of a witty trompe l’oeil sequence early in the film — and might have a future on the racing circuit.

At least that’s what his friend and sometime employer Shannon (Bryan Cranston) thinks. He has a plan to persuade a couple of local gangsters (Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks) to invest in a car that will be both Shannon’s and the driver’s ticket out of their marginal, sun-baked, film noir existence.

You don’t need me to tell you that the plan goes astray and that before too long the girl and the gun come into play, in more or less that order. The girl’s name is Irene, she is played by Carey Mulligan, and she lives with her young son down the hall from the driver. A neighborly flirtation is disrupted by the return from prison of Irene’s husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), who gets pulled back into his old life of crime in such a way as to bring out the guns and require from the driver a few gruesomely violent acts of chivalry.

There is a bag full of money, a crosshatching of vendettas and betrayals, and an ambience of crepuscular Southern California anomie. There is also one scene of pure automotive pleasure, when the driver takes Irene and her son on a cruise along the kind of concrete culvert that has often been used for car chases in the past. But this is not “The Big Lebowski,” which took such delight in its status as pastiche that it ended up in a zone of wild originality and real feeling. “Drive” is somber, slick and earnest, and also a prisoner of its own emptiness, substituting moods for emotions and borrowed style for real audacity.

This is not to say that the movie is bad — as I have suggested, the skill and polish are hard to dispute — but rather that it is, for all its bravado, timid and conventional. In the hands of great filmmakers (like Mr. Eastwood and Mr. Godard, to stick with relevant examples) genre can be a bridge between familiar narrative structures and new insights about how people interact and behave. Those are precisely what “Drive” is missing, in spite of some intriguingly nuanced performances.

The softness of Mr. Gosling’s face and his curiously high-pitched, nasal voice make him an unusually sweet-seeming avenger, even when he is stomping bad guys into bloody pulp. And Ms. Mulligan’s whispery diction and kewpie-doll features have a similarly disarming effect. Irene seems like much too nice a person to be mixed up in such nasty business. Not that she’s really mixed up in it. Her innocence is axiomatic and part of the reason the driver goes to such messianic lengths to protect her.

To make the movie work on its own constricted terms, you need — beyond this girl and this guy, and the cars and the weapons — a colorful supporting cast. And this is what saves “Drive” from arch tedium: Mr. Cranston’s wheezing, anxious loser; Christina Hendricks’s seething, taciturn underworld professional; and above all Mr. Brooks’s diabolically nebbishy incarnation of corruption and venality.

In his self-authored comic roles, Mr. Brooks often exudes a passive-aggressive hostility, a latent capacity for violence held in check by neurosis and cowardice. He lets you assume the same in “Drive” until the moment he stabs someone in the eye with a fork. It’s a shocking and oddly glorious moment — something a lot of us, without quite knowing it or being able to explain just why, have been waiting 30 years to see.

“Drive” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Acts of gruesomely violent chivalry and vehicular aggression.

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn; written by Hossein Amini, based on the book by James Sallis; director of photography, Newton Thomas Sigel; edited by Matthew Newman; music by Cliff Martinez; production design by Beth Mickle; costumes by Erin Benach; produced by Marc Platt, Adam Siegel, John Palermo, Gigi Pritzker and Michel Litvak; released by FilmDistrict. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes.

WITH : Ryan Gosling (Driver), Carey Mulligan (Irene), Bryan Cranston (Shannon), Christina Hendricks (Blanche), Ron Perlman (Nino), Oscar Isaac (Standard) and Albert Brooks (Bernie Rose).

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‘drive’: cannes 2011 review.

The arty Danish fast-cars-and-crime thriller, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, should be promotable to good box office results from both discerning and popcorn audiences come September.

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

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Never speaking unless absolutely necessary, Gosling’s unnamed Driver works doing movie stunts during the day and moonlights as a robbery getaway driver. The sharply executed opening sequence shows Driver’s complete mastery of Los Angeles streets, as well as his grace under pressure, as he threads his way through a net of police cars and helicopters to escape from a nocturnal warehouse break-in.

Drawn to an appealing neighbor in his near-downtown apartment building, Irene ( Carey Mulligan ), Driver does more talking with his eyes than with his mouth. An initial exchange between them sums up the semi-philosophical, borderline hilarious sort of dialogue that often finds its way into this kind of fare. Irene: “Whaddya’ do?” Driver: “I drive.”

We never learn much more about the man than that, but he quickly takes a strong interest in the welfare of this young woman, who has a cute young son ( Kaden Leo s) whose dad is in prison. At the same time, it appears that Driver’s professional fortunes might be improving, as his longtime boss and patron, gimpy-legged auto shop owner Shannon ( Bryan Cranston ) makes a deal with big-bucks investor Bernie Rose ( Albert Brooks ) to back Driver as a stock car racer.

The lulls between set pieces tend to be quiet and moody, which dramatically offsets the efficiently executed car chases and the killings that mount up — and become increasing gory — as the bad deeds multiply. The downtime never threatens to become dull, not with this cast nor with Refn’s lively style and the wildly eclectic soundtrack that’s embedded in techno music but extends well beyond it. 

All the same, Hossein Amini ’s adaptation of James Sallis’ short novel feels more threadbare than bracingly terse; he’s clearly aspiring to the sort of spare muscularity in crime writing pioneered by Hemingway in The Killers and subsequently employed by many others. Amini simply doesn’t build enough subtext and layering beneath the surface of the characters and dialogue; the tough talk is simply not loaded the way it is in the best noirs, so the lack of resonance is manifest.

So it’s a fun, if not exhilarating, ride, one sped along with the help of a wonderfully assembled cast. Gosling here makes a bid to enter the iconic ranks of tough, self-possessed American screen actors — Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Lee Marvin — who express themselves through actions rather than words. Sometimes (mostly around Irene), his Driver smiles too much, but Gosling assumes just the right posture of untroubled certainty in the driving scenes and summons unsuspected reserves when called upon for very rough stuff later on.

Mulligan, seen only in classy fare up to now, is a delightful choice as the sweet but bereft Irene, while Isaac invests his jailbird with unanticipated intelligence and sincerity. Christina Hendricks isn’t around for long but makes a strong impression as an accomplice in an ill-advised robbery. Cranston applies craggy color to his good-guy loser, while Perlman pushes the evil all the way. Most surprising of all, however, is Brooks, who is wonderful as a rich, reasonable-sounding gent who’s better than the others at hiding that he’s a total s.o.b.  

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Drive Reviews

Drive is basically the coolest movie ever. Its dreamlike, electronic soundtrack -- perfect for travel at night -- layers meaningful messages into a violent fairy tale about an unconventional hero.

Full Review | Apr 20, 2023

A patient, Jean-Pierre Melville-esque character study with flourishes of action. But it's more about atmosphere than adrenaline.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 8, 2023

Refn affirms his talents as a genre filmmaker and indulges in excesses and clichés reminiscent of '70s and '80s productions. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Oct 4, 2022

Underneath the crafty and stylish surface lies a fairly simple and conventional action thriller.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 20, 2022

One of the most iconic and stylish films of the twenty-first century

Full Review | Jun 2, 2022

...with no end of great, if ludicrous, fight choreography and stunt work, it is a guilty pleasure for action fans par excellence...

Full Review | Feb 24, 2022

Action buffed down to its essence and serving the purpose of an emotional reaction rather than a strictly visceral one

Full Review | Jan 10, 2022

Working from Hossain Amini's compelling, "driving" narrative script, director Refn delivers a masterclass in mood creation, playing with camera angles, shadows, film speed and sound to keep the audience fully engrossed.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 8, 2021

Drive's bravura opening highlighted that there's more than one way to execute a nail-biting car chase, especially when operating on an indie budget.

Full Review | Sep 20, 2021

Nicolas Winding Refn had an extremely distinct vision and saw something different in rom-com heartthrob Ryan Gosling. And when those two things collided, damn, was it cool.

Full Review | Jul 28, 2021

The movie looks fantastic and is still the best-looking example of the 2010s neon-aesthetic renaissance that it helped kick off.

Full Review | May 5, 2021

Poetic with its minimalism, excessive in its violence, and artistic with its presentation.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Nov 30, 2020

Mulligan has made quite the career for herself in highly acclaimed yet frequently under-seen films.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 6, 2020

A violent yet stylish film that is very well made

Full Review | Jun 29, 2020

In 'Drive', a film directed by Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, we find an ingenious mix of the best of road cinema from the 70s and neo-noir criminal intrigue. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 24, 2020

Nicolas Winding Refn demonstrates an incredible understanding for the neon-infused loneliness of L.A. and its crime world underpinnings.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 4, 2020

This story affected me. I'll be watching Drive for the rest of my life, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a disturbing and romantic ride.

Full Review | Apr 1, 2020

It was a surprising Action Crime Drama that totally has you in the end of your seat anticipating on what will happen next.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jan 11, 2020

Calculating. Methodical. High gloss. Slick. Polished. Drive is the neo-noir thriller of the year.

Full Review | Nov 26, 2019

An exhilarating and terrifying ride.

Full Review | Jul 26, 2019

Comic-Con 2011: DRIVE Review

Drive movie review. Matt reviews Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, and Albert Brooks.

Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive works across time and genre.  It's set in present-day Los Angeles, uses an 80s score and soundtrack, features a tragic 50s noir protagonist, and wraps everyone up in archetypical figures that manage to feel fresh through strong performances and gorgeous cinematography.  It's a film that confidently walks the line between alienating its audience with bold choices but it never strays so far into the obtuse or the strange that you lose the hard-boiled crime story simmering underneath.  It constantly challenges the audience to look away with its intensity, its thoughtfulness, and its brutality, but it's too damn entertaining to look away.

Like all great noir protagonists, the Driver (Ryan Gosling) has a code and it makes him good at his job.  He's a stunt-driver by day, but at night his true driving talent shines when he works as a wheelman.  He can outrun his pursuers when necessary, but his real strength is in his reserve and patience in the face of danger.  While he attempts to keep others at a distance, he eventually warms up to his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son Benecio.  When Irene's husband Standard Gabriel (Oscar Isaac) gets out of prison, he comes home and owes protection money to bad folks.  The Driver decides he'll help Gabriel on a job in order to protect Irene and Benecio, but matters then fall apart as shady figures Nino (Ron Perlman) and Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks) come into play.  Like all great noir protagonists, The Driver breaks from his code to do something honorable and it leads to his downfall.

In recent years, Gosling has become one of Hollywood's most respected actors and in Drive he turns in a career-best performance.  He plays the characters' emotions close to the vest and tries to convey as much as possible with minor expressions.  What's remarkable is that he's able to craft such a rich and interesting character without playing it all on the surface and then has to show how the identity deteriorates over the course of the film.  It's a bizarre mix of nobility, detachment, and violent madness but Gosling brings it all together to make an utterly compelling character who holds your attention in every single frame.

Telling a cinematic story from the POV of its protagonist isn't simply a matter of doing a POV-shot and Gosling isn't the only one who inhabits the Driver's calm exterior and explosive rage.  Refn matches Gosling's performance shot for shot and it's beautiful to see an actor's delivery and a director's vision work in such perfect harmony.  However, when the Driver starts to emotionally unravel and struggles to understand his own identity, Refn keeps his cool and manages to balance the insanity of the action with the pathos of the main character.

The film is filled with great performances but despite having heavyweights like Carey Mulligan and Bryan Cranston in the cast, the biggest characters are played by Gosling and Brooks.  They're the real powerhouses and I have to give Brooks his due.  You have never seen him play a character like this before and he's tremendous as a villain who's beguiling, intelligent, and absolutely ruthless.  In some ways, The Driver and Rose are two sides of the same coin in terms of their personalities and their ethics, but that's an essay for another time.

Plenty of essays could be written about Drive .  It's the rare film where I immediately wanted to watch it again, but would like to pause it and scribble down plenty of notes.  So many great ideas swirl around hard-boiled crime story and you can get lost dissecting it as a character piece, as a product of genre cinema, or even breaking down the cleverness of the cinematography.  Sometimes the visuals become overt like when the lights in the elevator dim and the Driver and Irene have their first kiss.  Other times it sneaks in like when Irene tells the Driver that her husband is getting out of jail and we can see a red light reflected off their faces.  Every shot is purposeful and well-constructed that you just want to take the movie frame-by-frame and sit in awe.

I've been a fan of Refn ever since watch the Pusher trilogy and Bronson , but his American-debut is his strongest film yet.  As he did with his previous films, he takes a simple genre (in this case an action-crime flick) and twists its conventions and rethinks its possibilities and comes away with a magnificent reinvention.  Drive is an exhilarating ride where the thrills are as raw and intense as the emotions.

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• Australia edition
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Drive – review

N icolas Winding Refn's Drive is an LA pulp thriller, very brutal, very slick. It arrives here on an eddy of editorial hype; there is hardly a male pundit or columnist in Britain under 70 who hasn't declared a simpering man-crush on its star, Ryan Gosling , playing the permafrost-cool hero with no name. He's a Hollywood stunt driver with a toothpick in the corner of his mouth, wearing a sleek bomber jacket with a scorpion on the back. Secretly, he also works for scary criminals as a wheelman, a getaway specialist; he gets top dollar, because he's the very best. With no fear, he can drive at terrifying speeds with extraordinary manoeuvrability; he has a sixth sense for cop cars and police helicopters. However, he has one super-special rule that the robbers must agree to, but which makes zero narrative sense. More of that in a moment.

Drive is a good film with great visual flair, in the style of Elmore Leonard or Quentin Tarantino, and with a little of their natural gruesome gaiety and gallows humour. Gosling has charisma and presence, although his facial expression is often set to "sardonic". Yet I can't quite join in the widespread critical enthusiasm that has greeted this film, and on the two times I've seen it, I couldn't join in the nervous shrieks of audience laughter that its ultra-violence provokes.

The idea is that Gosling's impassive driver gets his Hollywood stunt gigs and maybe also his criminal engagements through a garage owner, a cheerful crook called Shannon (Bryan Cranston) with mob connections. Gosling's life looks as if it will be turned around when he falls quietly in love with his next-door neighbour Irene, played with dignity and tenderness by Carey Mulligan . She's a single mom with a little boy who likes Gosling: her husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) is an incompetent crook now in jail, and it is evidently Gosling's tough, unspoken decency that keeps this relationship platonic. He is, moreover, joining a legit business, a speed-racing show Shannon is setting up with his mobster buddies Bernie and Nino – terrific performances from Albert Brooks (a rare bad-guy part) and Ron Perlman. But then Irene's man gets out of the joint, still mixed up in rough stuff, and just for Irene's sake, Gosling does one last driving job on his behalf, which of course goes horribly wrong.

Here is where is this tense, taut drama takes a lurching left-turn into ultra-violence and chaos. Gosling's driver had until this moment seemed like a basically sympathetic, romantic guy – involved in crime of course, but who made a point of not carrying a gun. Now the catastrophe of this last job seems to unlock a psychopathic capacity for extreme brutality. Is this a facet of his personality? Or just a style accessory for the film in general? So many people in this film seem to have the same capacity, and often the violence rips holes in the plot, as well as the bodies. At one stage, somebody kills someone else while chillingly cooing reassurance, yet what he's after is more or less under his is nose, and it doesn't occur to him to look for it. At another stage, someone gets horrifyingly stomped to death in an incautious location, with the body airily undisposed of. A bit of a rash killing in this era of CSI and CCTV and door-to-door inquiries.

Then there is Gosling's rule, supposedly a mark of his hyper-strict professionalism. He will drive the robbers as brilliantly as they could ever wish. But only for five minutes. When the five minutes is up, no matter where they are, he parks and leaves them there. What on earth is the point of a jobsworth getaway driver who downs tools after five minutes? A getaway guy surely has to get the robbers to their pre-arranged safe house, no matter what. What do this movie's creators imagine a robbery involves? It's like having a cab driver who says he'll drive you really really fast in the direction of your house, but only for five minutes. The naivety and absurdity sit uncomfortably with all that super-cool violence.

That said, there are some great cameos with very nice Leonardesque lines. Christina Hendricks almost steals the picture as a mysterious woman called Blanche – suitably white-faced with terror at the awful fate she correctly suspects awaits her when the heist goes wrong. Hendricks brilliantly transmits pure, elemental fear. Brooks and Perlman have some crackling dialogue, especially Perlman who complains that east coast gangster bullies still pinch his cheeks as if he's a kid. "I'm 59 years old!" A world of humiliation and despair is cleverly contained in that. Drive is a movie with power but is still directionless; the acceleration is great, but the steering needs looking at.

• Ryan Gosling
• Carey Mulligan
• Crime films
• Action and adventure films

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The Guardian Film Show Film Weekly podcast: Jason Solomons takes a Drive with Nicolas Winding Refn

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Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe : Sometimes a movie knows you're watching it. It knows how to hold and keep you, how, when it's over, to make you want it all over again. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly : Drive revels in sensory detail; it's a visually and aurally edgy Euro-influenced American genre movie about the coolness of noir-influenced American genre movies about the coolness of driving - especially in L.A. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle : Mainstream audiences will probably be confounded by "Drive," while lovers of gritty filmmaking will defend every exaggerated shotgun wound as art. Know which camp you're in before you enter the theater. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate : Enters the viewer like a sharp unseen blade. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies : ...Two-thirds' worth of a pretty good to quite good action picture and one-third worth of affected, highfalutin, practically insufferably portentous, pretentious malarkey. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times : "Drive" is somber, slick and earnest, and also a prisoner of its own emptiness, substituting moods for emotions and borrowed style for real audacity. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out : Drive feels like some kind of masterpiece -- it's as pure a version of the essentials as you're likely to see. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture : Why would Gosling, a fascinatingly cerebral actor, take a role so far inside his comfort zone? Does he long to strike action-icon poses -- to be the new Nic Cage? Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal : [Gosling] and this powerful film, which is ultimately about a moment of grace, deserve each other. He's the medium's most graceful minimalist. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel : Pulsating...very cool. Could have used a little more "driving," though. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today : The look is artfully stylized, influenced by classic film noir; the mood is dark; the performances nuanced; and the story unnervingly exciting. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times : "Drive" is a fine and stylish, if ultraviolent, ride, filled with unexpectedly askew camera angles, nighttime lighting worthy of Raymond Chandler, and nuanced performances. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club : At least half a dozen scenes are burned into my memory for life, including not one but two of the most jarring, heartbreaking juxtapositions of tenderness and violence this side of classic Kitano. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club : At a time when action films routinely pass off freneticness as excitement, Drive is a reminder of how powerful the genre can be when every shot and every line of dialogue has a purpose, deployed for maximum impact. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic : Think of "Drive" as the cinematic equivalent of riding in a car that projects a fashionably stylish image. Sure, the gas mileage may be terrible and the engine unreliable, but it's such a smooth, good-looking ride that you'll put up with the annoyances. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press : Gosling's masculine, minimalist approach makes him mysteriously compelling. Yes, there's the fact that he's gorgeous. But he also does so much with just a subtle glance, by just holding a moment a beat or two longer than you might expect. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader : Though it easily surpasses most American action flicks, it suffers from the old commercial imperative of making the protagonist a nice guy, something Refn has seldom bothered with in Europe. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune : Before long, and then with grinding relish, "Drive" becomes one garishly sadistic set piece after another. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News : The first half of Drive unfolds like a romantic reverie. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post : In reworking genres without quoting shamelessly, Refn proves himself his own man and a guy quite capable of taking us places we didn't even know we wanted to go. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News : Drive is pedal-to-the-metal stuff. Don't get behind the wheel unless you can take the rush. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com : The pace of this film is a beautiful thing to behold, as Drive is a patient but taut thriller. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter : Tasty, if sketchy, modern noir with car chases and bloody action that should turn the trick for genre-seeking audiences. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times : It's a film in love with both traditional noir mythology and ultra-modern violence, a combination that is not ideal. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald : What ultimately makes Drive so compelling is its characters - sketches given dimension and heft by a superb cast. Read more

David Thomson, The New Republic : What it had going for it was an uncanny and moving relationship between Gosling and Mulligan. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker : In grabbing our attention, [Refn] diverts it from what matters. The horror lingers and seeps; the feelings are sponged away. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger : For stone-cold, retro action fans who are tired of all these over-edited, underachieving thrillers - well, here's one car chase movie that isn't running on empty. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News : For all the movement in Drive, the quiet, deathly still moments are the ones that count. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post : It's fun, but the script, credited to Hossein Amini ("The Wings of the Dove"), is short on characterization and long on plot twists and wisecracks. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer : A shamelessly entertaining genre movie from director Nicolas Winding Refn that plays like an exalted episode of Miami Vice or a stealth version of Shane. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews : Perhaps Drive is an action movie for those who don't ordinarily like action movies. It's also an action movie for those who crave them like a drug. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times : Here is still another illustration of the old Hollywood noir principle that a movie lives its life not through its hero, but within its shadows. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone : Buckle up for the existential bloodbath of Drive, a brilliant piece of business that races on a B-movie track until it switches to the dizzying fuel of undiluted creativity. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com : "Drive" builds extraordinary tension before exploding in brief outbursts of shocking violence, almost in the mode of a samurai film. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune : Drama requires emotions and cool requires their suppression. The tautly paced, peerlessly stylish crime drama "Drive" has it both ways. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch : The abrupt shifts between neo-noir fatalism and white-knight romanticism could give an unsuspecting viewer whiplash, but Refn has a trusty map and keeps his hands on the wheel. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic : The extreme and escalating violence will prove off-putting to some-frankly, I'm surprised not to have been among them-but for the rest, Drive is a needle-punch of adrenaline to the aorta. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail : This is no antic-frantic affair; instead, it's a cerebral game of stop-and-go, hide-and-seek, as the director behind the camera handles things exactly like the guy behind the wheel - with a stylish mixture of cold calculation and cool aplomb. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail : Tense car chases, action scenes handled with crisp panache and Canadian actor Ryan Gosling channelling Steve McQueen as an existential wheel man add up to make Drive one of the best arty-action films since Steven Soderbergh's The Limey. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap : There's a sleek, pulse-pounding, heart-racing machine in Drive, but it's buried deeply under an oppressive package of optional extras. For all of its good ideas -- and there are plenty of them -- the film eventually buckles under an excess of style. Read more

Jessica Winter, TIME Magazine : To invest oneself emotionally in the central relationship, or the movie itself, would be akin to investing oneself emotionally in one's car. But when the car looks this good and drives this fast, why not? Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out : Sure, it's shallow, but it's also slickly compelling, beautifully crafted and so damn shiny. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star : Anyone watching Drive won't be able to take their eyes off Gosling. Playing a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a wheelman for criminals, he rocks like a young Steve McQueen or Robert De Niro. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety : Drive takes the tired heist-gone-bad genre out for a spin, delivering fresh guilty-pleasure thrills in the process. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice : The film... has a kind of daredevil control, swerving dangerously close to and abruptly away from self-parody. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post : Gosling and director Nicolas Winding Refn neatly manage the hat trick of paying homage to those wheelmen of yore while reinvigorating the genre with style, smarts and flashes of wit. Read more

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

A mysterious Hollywood action film stuntman gets in trouble with gangsters when he tries to help his neighbor's husband rob a pawn shop while serving as his getaway driver. A mysterious Hollywood action film stuntman gets in trouble with gangsters when he tries to help his neighbor's husband rob a pawn shop while serving as his getaway driver. A mysterious Hollywood action film stuntman gets in trouble with gangsters when he tries to help his neighbor's husband rob a pawn shop while serving as his getaway driver.

• Nicolas Winding Refn
• Hossein Amini
• James Sallis
• Ryan Gosling
• Carey Mulligan
• Bryan Cranston
• 1.8K User reviews
• 720 Critic reviews
• 79 Metascore
• 79 wins & 180 nominations total

• Bernie Rose

• (as Joey Bucaro)

• Young Woman

• Bearded Redneck
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia In preparation for his role, Ryan Gosling restored the 1973 Chevy Malibu that his character uses in the film.
• Goofs In one shot, the tachometer on Driver's steering column reads 0 RPMs and none of the other gauges are reading normally for driving. This is likely due to the vehicle being towed on a dolly. The tachometer can be seen working in other shots.

[first lines]

Driver : [on phone] There's a hundred-thousand streets in this city. You don't need to know the route. You give me a time and a place, I give you a five minute window. Anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours. No matter what. Anything happens a minute either side of that and you're on your own. Do you understand?

Driver : Good. And you won't be able to reach me on this phone again.

• Alternate versions The preview version of the movie has slightly different dialogue in the telephone conversation between Bernie Rose and Driver preceding the meeting at the Great Wall restaurant. Regular theatrical cut Driver: [to Bernie] You know the story about the scorpion and the frog? Your friend Nino didn't make it across the river. Preview version Bernie Rose: Where's Nino? Driver: He's Gone. The reference to the story about the scorpion and the frog was left out of the preview version.
• Connections Featured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.19 (2011)
• Soundtracks Tick of the Clock Written by Johnny Jewel Performed by Chromatics (as The Chromatics) Courtesy of Italians Do It Better Records

User reviews 1.8K

• TartanScorsese
• Oct 7, 2023
• How long is Drive? Powered by Alexa
• Is 'Drive' based on a book?
• Why did the pawn shop owner say only one man was involved in the robbery and that no money was taken?
• What kind of classic car is he driving in the dry ravine?
• September 16, 2011 (United States)
• United States
• Le Pacte (France)
• Official Facebook
• Tay Lái Siêu Hạng
• Point Mugu, California, USA (end of the car chase)
• FilmDistrict
• Madison Wells
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $15,000,000 (estimated)
• $35,061,555
• $11,340,461
• Sep 18, 2011
• $78,721,347

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 40 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Movie Review: Drive (2011)

• Mark Zhuravsky
• Movie Reviews
• 7 responses
• --> September 16, 2011

The Driver (Ryan Gosling) has no need for a name. He embodies his job description — a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. Life outside of the 1973 Chevy Malibu, his vehicle of choice, is anonymous. That is, until Irene (Carey Mulligan), who lives down the hall, walks into the Driver’s life. Irene is a single mother, caring for her son while Standard (Oscar Issac of “ Sucker Punch “) languishes in prison. But Standard is due to be out soon enough, and while Driver plays father figure for several lovely days, the quiet man embodied with moments of precise rage by Gosling will soon be thrust into an increasingly convoluted criminal scheme. His survival is improbable, leaving many grisly scenes in its wake but the Driver never slows his pace, or lets down his guard.

Add this author to the quickly growing cult of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive , a genre picture that is as unstoppable as its main character, furious and gentle in equal parts, a complete triumph of style over substance and yet not insubstantial. The Onion’s AV Club deemed it “retro genre heaven” and it’s tempting to agree — but it’s also an American thriller filtered through the mind of a European fan, the pacing distinctly Refn-esque. There is a fascination with details, like the Driver’s clothes becoming more and more blood splattered as he racks up a kill count. There is the man himself, almost mute and just a tidbit less imposing than the One Eye of “ Valhalla Rising .” The fact that Gosling can stir up genuine tension despite his pretty-boy looks is one of this movie’s many victories.

The men that come in conflict with Driver over a botched crime scheme are Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks — imagine if Hank Scorpio wasn’t a cartoon villain but a toned down career criminal) and Nino (Ron Perlman, in full-on gangster mode and granted one defining stand-out scene). Rose is the brains and Nino the muscle and yet the two are notably human, hardly caricatures or bland, faceless villains. By sheer bad luck, Rose happens to be the primary investor in a race car that Gosling would have been set to drive. Rose is bolstered by Shannon (Bryan Cranston), a permanently down-on-his-luck mechanic who owns a garage that Driver occasionally toils in between transporting criminals and crashing cars in the movies. Cranston’s Shannon is a sad-sack case who doesn’t realize he’s doomed from the on-set and a late scene with Cranston and Brooks is startlingly sad.

Is it wrong to characterize Drive as an action movie? Maybe insofar as present action templates are concerned — this film is dead-set against trading silence for overwhelming noise. Refn understands the value of the moments before and after the onslaught and milks them with merciless efficiency. It serves the film better than you can imagine, aided with another excellent Cliff Martinez score, playing like a winking Tangerine Dream cover band. Evocative and exact lighting by Newton Thomas Sigel (Bryan Singer’s DP of choice) solidifies a key moment in an elevator as one of the year’s best stand-alone scenes.

There’s a lot to like and love about Drive and perhaps that’s why this review reads more like a best-of compilation than straight-forward criticism. To fall under the spell of the film is to be reminded why you love movies in the first place — in part because the films you love are ones you can watch with friends, eying their facial expressions like you’re nursing an addiction, the satisfaction of reliving the same moments that floored you through them. Drive is a film that spins a little substance into movie magic, and invites you to bask in it (while sneaking in deliriously over-the-top violence and well-executed car chases). It’s the total package; not a perfect film, but in a way an inimitable triumph — a unique coalition of director, actors, and crew.

Tagged: driver , mafia , neighbor , novel adaptation

The best of the five boroughs is now represented. Brooklyn in the house! I'm a hardworking film writer, blogger, and former co-host of "It's No Timecop" podcast ! Find me on Twitter @markzhur .

Movie Review: The Last Exorcism Part 2 (2013) Movie Review: Masquerade (2012) Movie Review: Sightseers (2012) Movie Review: Iron Man 3 (2013) Movie Review: Screwed (2011) Movie Review: Looper (2012) Movie Review: The Grey (2012)

'Movie Review: Drive (2011)' have 7 comments

September 18, 2011 @ 10:31 pm Tyler's Comment

man, gosling has steadily gotten better and better at this acting thing. although he doesn’t say much in this particular movie his presence is riveting.

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September 19, 2011 @ 3:18 am VanSpeedster

Awesome use of soundtrack through out. The rest of the movie not so awesome.

September 20, 2011 @ 12:30 am Arc Games

Albert Brooks owned the show. Whoda thunk Brooks as a gangster..?

September 20, 2011 @ 1:34 pm Baywater

In a nutshell, Drive is a very ‘crafty’ film with too much downtime between anything of substance happening.

September 22, 2011 @ 2:35 am SomeGuy

Great review for a great movie, Mark.

September 22, 2011 @ 3:44 pm Hecklan

Good overall movie but it lacked that epic finale it was yearning for. It kinda ended on a “hohum” note.

September 30, 2011 @ 10:58 am Wes

Last act left me hanging. Pretty good flick up to that though.

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Straight From a Movie

Pensive Thoughts on Paper – Movie Reviews & Analyses

Drive Movie 2011 Analysis | Search for a Real Human Being, a Real Hero

Unlike most movies out there, Drive movie 2011 is a narrative based more on sensorial experiences than dialogues from the characters. Throughout the movie, we can find many scenes of non-verbal communication, in a sense that communication takes place not so much in words but in images, sounds, and songs as expressions that its director Nicholas Winding Refn splendidly presents to portray a certain mood or the feelings the main character transmits even when he’s barely talking.

This is by no means a mere whim from the director. On the contrary, the director magnifies all the non-verbal elements as a form of building a bridge to connect the spectator with the plot in a more intimate way. The challenge for spectators is to surpass that awkwardness similar to just staring into someone else’s eyes in silence because this movie asks us to look directly into the eyes of a strange driver ( Ryan Gosling ) who will barely say a word to us. Once we surpass that awkwardness we can begin a genuine dialogue with the plot and, hopefully, understand what drives the driver to do what he does.

With that in mind, this Drive movie analysis 2011 will be an attempt to look straight into the eyes of its characters and closing that gap between our notions of what it means to be a real human being and a real hero with those incarnated into the character of the Driver.

As a way to cross the bridge built by Nicholas Winding Refn and translating the images of Drive into words, we will analyze the recurring metaphors portrayed across the movie.

The Explicit Metaphor Behind Driver: The Scorpion and The Frog

Do you know the story about the scorpion and the frog.

A scorpion asks a frog to carry him over a river. The frog says “No, because you will sting me”, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, both would sink and then he would drown too. The frog then agrees, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog. While drowning the frog asks “why?” the scorpion answered, “because it is in my nature”. – Fable of the Scorpion and the Frog

This Russian fable serves as the explicit metaphor presented to us along with the image of the Driver’s jacket. The symbol of the scorpion on its back makes you wonder if he’s the frog or the scorpion. One might argue that the fact he drives for criminals in their wrongdoings is a sign of him being a frog that carries scorpions on his back. Nonetheless, as we watch the way he acts further in the movie, his capability for violence when required and ultimately showing that killing others is also in his nature is proof that he is the scorpion. But then again, we also see how he metaphorically drowns with the scorpion incarnated as Bernie ( Albert Brooks ) in an attempt to help Irene ( Carey Mulligan ) to get safe to the other part of the river.

Then, do you think he’s a scorpion or a frog? As life is not black or white, we cannot say the Driver is one or another either. The truth is that he is both a frog and a scorpion because we humans have both a good side and a bad side encoded in our nature.

Since no one can claim to be completely good nor wholesomely bad, we have no other choice than to try to understand the reasons behind others’ actions as much as we can to truly comprehend their meaning.

The Implicit Metaphor Behind Driver: A Real Human Being and a Real Hero in Drive Movie 2011

The implicit metaphor can be found in a song that’s the main theme of the movie: “A Real Hero” by College ft. Electric Youth . This song is a representation of the inner qualities of a hero as the outer actions that a real human being undertakes in order to save others and become a real hero.

Along the movie we can ask ourselves if this character is a personification of a real human being and a real hero as it is depicted in the song. By looking at his development, first we have a rather cold and distant character with skill and nerves that put him as someone who is in control even when the odds are against him.

“You look like a zombie, kid”

Nonetheless, a simple remark by his companion Shannon ( Bryan Cranston ) gives us a clue of how he might not be acting like a real human being. He continually shows himself indifferent towards risky situations, like performing a stunt that might be fatal, as for getting much money out of it, because he lives in a rather simple way. He’s acting more like a zombie that’s devoid of life.

He’s a complex character whose pursuits are not evident. But we get a clue when he’s staring from his window at Irene and Benicio ( Kaden Leos ). The remoteness of this image is like if he was longing to experience something that he lacks and it seems out of his reach: Love. Even if he’s having it in front of him, he knows it is not his to take. But as we cannot avoid the deepest desires of our souls, the involvement of the Driver with Irene is inevitable.

Even though love might be considered a simplistic pursuit, to love and to be loved is one of the most fundamental desires a real human being pursuits and experiencing it, even for a brief moment, is more than enough for people to find meaning in whatever they are doing. The character of the driver portrays something like this in that single scene where we can see an expression of pure bliss as we heard for the first time the main theme of “A real hero”, like a signal that a moment like this one is what it looks like to be a real human being.

“I have to go somewhere now. I don’t think I can come back. Just getting to be around you was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

When tragedy befalls the true test to prove who the real heroes are, begins.

The momentary happiness of the driver was no more than a fairytale that ended when Benicio’s father returned. Nonetheless, those brief moments of joy were enough for the driver to protect Irene and Benicio’s life from the dangers that came with Standard’s return.

To protect them meant to become into a being capable of violence equal or greater than those that wanted to hurt them. He had to show his scorpion nature to Irene and shatter any hope he might have of being able to be around her. He knew he passed a point of no return and whatever they had was no more.

Hence Proved – A Real Human Being and a Real Hero in Drive 2011 Movie

In the end, the Driver lost everything he had, gained nothing, and sacrificed himself for the wellbeing of someone he barely knew.

At least that’s what it might look like from the outside. But the impression that the scene of him after being stabbed and having stabbed the scorpion menacing Irene’s life shouldn’t be taken as lightly as just a sad ending. No, it is much more than that, because right at this moment we again heard the song “A Real Hero”, and an expression of realization is portrayed. He removed almost every treat to the happiness he knew and just remained one last treat: Himself. By driving away from Irene’s life he finally became a real hero that proved to be a real human being capable of feeling joy, fear of losing someone he loved, and the courage to do the right thing even in the worse circumstances.

As we can see, these metaphors serve as sources of meaning for every action we see during the whole movie. The scorpion and the frog metaphor give the basis behind all the violence and conflictive elements present in the development of the driver. Meanwhile, an element as subtle as a song is so masterly combined with the image and the plot that’s more than enough to transmit not only a message but also a feeling of what it means to be a real human being and a real hero.

Without any doubt, this movie is one of those wonders that no matter how many times you watch it, you will always be amazed.

Check out the trailer of Drive movie 2011 here:

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Roger Ebert’s 20 Most-Scathing Movie Reviews

Praise from Roger Ebert was sometimes seen as the biggest win a movie could get. Conversely, when he hated a film, he didn't pull his punches.

If there's ever been a film critic who has achieved near-universal respect, it was Roger Ebert . The man loved movies like life itself and not once ever allowed his writing to become lazy or cliché. He wrote from the heart, and it was palpable.

But, the Chicago Sun-Times (from '67 to 2013) critic wasn't enamored with every film to come down the pipeline. After all, the more solid movies one watches, the more they're able to pick up on the flaws of the poor ones. Ebert saw an awful lot of movies, and he wrote an awful lot of words about them. It's just that not all of them were positive, even if, sometimes, the films weren't actually that bad .

20 Alligator (1980)

Roger's rating - 1/4 stars.

When a little girl's parents buy her a pet baby alligator, it's only so long before that thing gets flushed down a toilet. And, for the characters of John Sayles' (who went on to direct excellent indies such as Lone Star ) Alligator , that's far from a good thing. Jackie Brown 's Robert Forster plays the cop on its scaled tail, unless it gobbles him up first.

What Did He Want Out of Alligator?

Well, the man couldn't always be on the money. He gave Alligator just a single star, citing its supposedly poor special effects. He even mentions the alligator emerging from the sewer, which, to this day, actually looks pretty terrific. Plenty of creature features (including Anaconda ) earned outright adoration from Ebert, but what he saw in them, he didn't see in this 1980 film, even if it was very much present. Stream Alligator for free with ads on Tubi.

19 Baby Geniuses (1999)

Roger's rating - 1.5/4 stars.

Baby Geniuses isn't just one of Hollywood's most bizarre movies, it's outright Hollywood's most bizarre franchise . Yet, Kathleen Turner and Christopher Lloyd wisely bowed out of the one theatrical sequel, as they should have with this. The plot follows the test subjects of Babyco, a company which has just learned that, up until the age of two, babies can communicate with one another in extremely eloquent and detailed fashion.

He Described it as Horrifying

Ebert starts his review with, "Bad films are easy to make, but a film as unpleasant as Baby Geniuses achieves a kind of grandeur." Never has the word 'grandeur' carried more bizarre weight. But Baby Geniuses is nothing if not bizarre.

Or, as Ebert concludes the opening paragraph of his review, it's the type of movie where "there is something so fundamentally wrong that our human instincts cry out in protest." Ouch. Rent Baby Geniuses on Prime Video.

18 Bad Boys II (2003)

Everything that many people dislike about Michael Bay was brought to the forefront in his Bad Boys II . Infinitely more mean-spirited, unpleasant, and sometimes outright ignorant than his solid first film , many decisions in this (financially successful) film's construction are somewhat baffling. The plot, what little of it there is, follows Will Smith's Mike Lowrey and Martin Lawrence's Marcus Burnett as they take down a drug kingpin, often in slow motion.

Fortunately, things improved drastically with Bad Boys for Life , which lost Bay as director. Unfortunately, Ebert had already passed away at the time of release. So, his last adventure with the pair of humorous but competent cops was this, a film which he called "cruel" and "distasteful." He wasn't wrong. Stream Bad Boys II on Hulu.

17 Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002)

Roger's rating - .5/4 stars.

Ebert gave Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever just half of one star. So, there wasn't really much of anything about it he found merit in. This includes the mouthful of a title, which is not only difficult for ticket buyers to spout, but makes absolutely no sense.

Aren't We Cool

Ecks and Sever are allies in the film, the whole time, even before either one of them fully realizes it. There's no versus between them. The level of thought that went into the title went into the remainder of the film. As Ebert states , it's not so much a narrative as much as it's a series of explosions book ended by opening and closing credits.

16 Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

Battle: los angeles.

*Availability in US

Not available

It's pretty easy to pinpoint what Battle: Los Angeles wanted to be, even if it's harder to pinpoint just why it fails in every regard. It wants to be Black Hawk Down with aliens, pure and simple. Just look at its whole boots-on-the-ground vibe.

What a Missed Opportunity

But, like audiences at large quickly realized, as did Ebert, not even Aaron Eckhart's main character is as believable or fleshed-out as the side players in Black Hawk Down. By act two, the audience realizes the human characters have as much personality as the unintentionally ugly CGI aliens. So, why would they feel invested in the greater conflict? Rent on AppleTV.

15 Battlefield Earth (2000)

The plot of Battlefield Earth is irrelevant in comparison to the mentality that fueled its construction. It's the Scientology movie, plain and simple. Equipped with Psychlos, horrid dialogue, and devout follower John Travolta (who really hams it up here), that's all it ever really wanted to be. But, instead of spreading whatever Scientology's core message is, it made it a bigger laughingstock than its detractors already found it to be.

Did Ebert See an Upside?

He starts his review with, " Battlefield Earth is like taking a bus trip with someone who has needed a bath for a long time." So, suffice it to say, he didn't find the viewing a pleasant experience. Which is fair, considering it seems every extra dollar funneled into this thing to make it look more impressive actually just served to make it hideous. Rent Battlefield Earth on Prime Video.

14 The Bucket List (2007)

The bucket list.

The Bucket List really hasn't gotten enough credit for being as rotten as it is. Not even Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, two of the most likable and talented performers ever to grace the silver screen, can elevate it from unpleasant to watchable. The narrative follows two twilight-aged men with very different lives who find themselves facing the same thing: The Big C. Now, it's adventure time before time's no more.

Hollow as Can be

But, unlike fellow Nicholson film Terms of Endearment , The Bucket List doesn't even seem to take cancer seriously. It certainly doesn't bother to make its characters seem like actual humans going through one of the toughest times imaginable. Instead, it wants to be pleasant diversionary fare, but it's hard to be pleasant when that factor is looming large. Rent on AppleTV.

13 Cop Out (2010)

Cop Out follows Bruce Willis' Detective Jimmy Monroe (and never had the actor looked more miserable throughout his storied career) and his partner, Paul (Tracy Morgan) as they try and locate a rare baseball card. The thing is, it's Monroe's card, which he hoped to sell to help pay for his daughter's wedding. They get an opportunity to receive the card, but first, they have to carry out a mission for a scummy gangster.

Insert Pun About the Title Here

Cop Out is the only film Kevin Smith has helmed that he himself did not write, and that shows. Even if someone doesn't find themselves on Smith's wavelength, a specific wavelength is preferable to a big bag of nothing. Like audiences in general, Ebert found Cop Out to be nothing more than a deeply unfunny series of poop jokes. For a film about two grown men trying to solve a crime, there are a ton of juvenile jokes. Rightly so, Ebert considered juvenile to be a decent adjective for the movie as a whole. Rent on AppleTV.

12 Dungeons & Dragons (2000)

Since the game was blowing up in the late '90s, why not craft a film for the early aughts? Too bad Dungeons & Dragons appealed to neither fans nor general audiences. Not everyone has the taste for ham...and the 2000 D&D film is a full pig roast.

It Seemed Like an Okay Idea at the Time

Ebert compared the movie to a junior high school play. When a studio funnels a ton of money into a film with the hopes it will succeed, that's basically the last thing higher-ups want to read from America's most famous film critic. That said, at least he notes that Jeremy Irons has a ton of fun hamming it up. Stream Dungeons & Dragons for free with ads on YouTube.

11 Freddy Got Fingered (2001)

Freddy got fingered, roger's rating - 0/4 stars.

There isn't much of a plot in Freddy Got Fingered . Really, it's one of the hardest movies to explain, especially in terms of why someone would like it (they are out there, it's an understandable cult favorite oddity). Basically, the meat is that a ridiculously immature 28-year-old man has issues with his daddy ("Would you like some sausage? Daddy, would you like some sau-sa-ges?").

A Crass Culmination

Freddy Got Fingered made a profit, but Ebert certainly couldn't see how that might come to fruition. He saw the film as the crass culmination of other late '90s and early aughts' films such as See Spot Run (which might just get a mention soon), Monkeybone , Joe Dirt , and Tomcats . In other words, he thought less of it than he did those films, and he most certainly did not like those films. Rent on AppleTV.

10 Godzilla (1998)

Admittedly, and it may be a controversial take, but Roland Emmerich's Godzilla has aged extraordinarily well. If one looks at films like entities trying to accomplish a mission, Godzilla 's was simple: entertain . It does an amazing job of that, with underappreciated pacing, a terrific first attack on Manhattan, and a fun performance from Jean Reno.

Are there elements that still don't work? Absolutely. But, with the MonsterVerse in full swing, giving G-Fans the Big-G they're accustomed to, the sting of disappointment that surrounded Emmerich's film has all but disappeared, allowing it to serve on its own as both a rollercoaster ride and a late '90s timepiece.

Ebert's Thoughts?

Basically, he made a fair comparison to Jurassic Park . Godzilla (1998) isn't so much Godzilla as it is an attempt to replicate the success of that Steven Spielberg masterpiece. It doesn't quite succeed in that goal, and Ebert was quick to cite the film's special effects, especially how they're shrouded in darkness and rain and, far more often than not, Zilla rushes off the screen.

But, in fairness to the film, that helps seal the effect of a big lizard being able to conceal itself below ground in one of the most populated cities on Earth. Stream Godzilla on Max.

RELATED: Godzilla Minus One Director Reveals His Thoughts On Panned 1998 Godzilla Film

9 The Hot Chick (2002)

The hot chick.

For a little while there, Hollywood was trying its best to make Rob Schneider a leading man. And, considering The Hot Chick is the best of his few leading man movies, it's not very surprising things didn't pan out. Yet, just because The Hot Chick is slightly more intelligent than Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and the baffling The Animal doesn't mean it really possesses merit. That is, besides giving Anna Faris a major role outside Scary Movie and doing a little more to increase Rachel McAdams' exposure.

Switch-a-Ooh, This Is Forgettable

It wasn't a distaste for the body swap movie that turned Ebert off on The Hot Chick , it was this particular one's treatment of female characters. Basically, the women characters in The Hot Chick have very little to do other than openly fantasize about a phallus. In other words, he saw it as the nadir of an already pretty weak sub-genre. Stream on Hulu.

8 Jason X (2001)

If Ebert seemed to have a distaste for any one genre in particular, it was absolutely horror. More often than not, when writing about the genre, he was either harsh or dismissive. But, in the case of Friday the 13th , he made the irresponsible decision of posting performer Betsy Palmer's address just so they could harass her about staring in it. It wasn't a great look, and Ebert never warmed up to the franchise (which, with 12 movies combined, is less harmful than posting someone's, fortunately inaccurate, address).

The Nadir of His Least-Favorite Franchise

So, basically, Jason X was decidedly not the critic's favorite of the year. And, considering even die-hard Friday the 13th fans hate the thing, maybe it can't all be chalked up to franchise bias. That said, he did give some praise to the liquid nitrogen kill.

7 Kick-Ass (2010)

Roger Ebert wasn't alone in his repulse to Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass . Heck, there are some people out there, like those who went to see the midnight showing (because those were a thing at the time) during their senior year of high school, that left questioning the film's core ethical code. After all, hearing a little girl drop the "C Word" is... a lot.

What Didn't He Like?

Yet, unpleasant as it can be at first, it doesn't take long to gravitate to Kick-Ass ' level. Not to mention, with her immediate subsequent roles, Chloë Grace Moretz continued to show herself to be both an incredible talent and an old soul, so the sour taste of her language and actions in Kick-Ass is, or has become, diluted. But, even still, the character of Hit Girl rubbed Ebert the wrong way . Rent on AppleTV.

6 The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

The twilight saga: new moon.

The Twilight Saga never received Ebert's love, but there was only one he outright hated. And fair enough, because his main criticism was that it was stagnant more often than not. And, considering The Twilight Saga: New Moon is the only one that truly feels like a placeholder (okay, maybe Breaking Dawn Part 1 , as well), it's a criticism shared by many others. In Ebert's words, the characters in New Moon "should be arrested for loitering with intent to moan." A film without momentum is just money on a screen.

How Did He Feel About the Others?

Ebert gave the first film two-and-a-half stars out of four. His biggest gripe was that the acting wasn't always believable, but he seemed to admire the film's spirit. He was a little harsher on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse , which followed New Moon , but not as harsh as he was on that second film. He just felt that, while seeing Bella quiver and shiver in front of Edward has its appeal for fans, it was running out of steam (and there were two more flicks to go).

RELATED: New Moon Director Says Taylor Swift Tried to Get a Role in the Film

5 Pearl Harbor (2001)

War films tend to receive accolades. Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor , however, was seen as merely an excuse to put pretty people on a poster. Of course, Bay's film is a cinematic retelling of the attack on Pearl Harbor. But, even more than that (way more than that), it's desperately trying to be the love triangle version of Titanic (Rose wasn't exactly conflicted, so not a triangle).

At Least it Led to a Great Team America Joke

Ebert found Bay's film, like a few other Bay films, bloated as can be. He also figured it to be hackneyed, awkwardly-written, and "directed without grace."

In other words, he saw it as the intended moneymaker it is, not the accurate retelling of American history it should have been. What a waste of Josh Hartnett's considerable talent (and, frankly, this should have damaged Ben Affleck's career, not Hartnett's, but it absolutely did to the latter). Stream Pearl Harbor on Max.

4 See Spot Run (2001)

See Spot Run follows David Arquette's Gordon Smith, a mailman always going toe to toe with pups. When his cute neighbor's kid needs a babysitter, he leaps at the opportunity, but he's really babysitting two. The boy, and a constantly-pooping police pup who has just scurried from his witness protection situation (WITSEC for a dog? Alright).

See Ticket Buyers Run

In his one-and-a-half star review, Ebert called the unfunny comedy "desperate," "excruciating," and filled with farts. Well, fart jokes... if the term joke can actually be used for that kind of thing. Suffice it to say, Ebert felt he was too old for this, and he felt everyone else with their age in the double digits would feel much the same.

3 Thir13en Ghosts (2001)

Thirteen ghosts.

Thir13en Ghosts follows Arthur, the widowed nephew of a seemingly-deceased famous ghost hunter who is left the latter's massive mansion. A mansion that, in a way, functions as a clock...with moving pieces and all. But, not all is as it appears, and if the ghost-filled house doesn't kill Arthur Kriticos (Tony Shalhoub, looking absolutely miserable) and his family, his bloodline will.

There Are More Than Thir13en Reasons to Never Watch This

Okay, it's not that awful, it just takes a lot of big swings and doesn't really land them. But, without a doubt, there are at least two death scenes in this film that are legitimately well-crafted, unique, and memorable. But Ebert didn't even see merit in that brand of creativity, as he was more focused on just how loud and empty this ghost house actually is. To that point, he called Thir13en Ghosts "literally painful." Rent on AppleTV.

2 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Transformers: revenge of the fallen.

The issues Ebert had with Bad Boys II he had with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen . A film laced with so much bombast it's overwhelming by the end of the first act, Revenge of the Fallen is essentially a plotless film. It just wants to entertain and, frankly, it doesn't even do that.

A Soulless Endeavor

Really, the same thing, that it seeks to entertain, could be said of the first film. And, there, the mission was accomplished. But Revenge of the Fallen , when it isn't suffering from slow stretches, is steamrolled by some seriously ignorant characterizations (e.g. Mudflap). The vast majority of the film did nothing for Ebert, which couldn't have been more accurately summarized than with his calling it "of unbearable length."

1 Wild Wild West (1999)

Wild wild west.

Will Smith was on the top of the world when Wild Wild West was released. That much is obvious, even just looking at the fact this movie didn't kill his career . But, really, this is the exact type of movie that kills careers, to the letter. Bloated, poorly written, it makes Kenneth Branagh look like a weak actor, and it was clearly built by committee. After all, the whole mechanical spider thing was supposed to be in Tim Burton's Superman Lives . It's as if the studio needed a tent pole and hoped this would be it.

"A Comedy Dead Zone"

It's astonishing Smith passed on The Matrix in favor of Wild Wild West . Even if just analyzing the scripts, one works and one (even on the page) clearly does not. Ebert gave it ( Wild Wild West , not The Matrix ) a single star, citing in particular its ineffective comedic beats and the uncomfortable gelling of cyberpunk elements with the Western genre.

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, drive away dolls.

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Coming out of “Drive-Away Dolls,” an uproarious, sexy and deliciously feminine B-movie, the immediate thing you might realize is just how dearly this particular Coen Brothers flavor has been missed. You know, that quirky, familiarly zany essence last seen in “ Burn After Reading ” (or perhaps “Hail, Caesar!”), living on its own zippy and colorful terms, unbothered with the rules and properness of anywhere else.

But it’s only one brother this time, to be clear — Ethan Coen in the director’s chair sans Joel, teaming up with screenwriter (and spouse) Tricia Cooke on the page. Free-spirited and willing to take bold chances, the duo craft a genuinely entertaining road movie that splits the difference between the crime artery of “ Fargo ” (though don’t expect anything dark or snowy in the sunny “Dolls”) and the goofy crookery of “Burn After Reading.” The result is two lesbian friends on a road trip to Tallahassee (the location itself is a cheeky running joke), driving through an original picture that winks at both the old-fashioned screwballs of yore and a ‘90s brand of indie grit, with plenty of knowingly ridiculous twists and, well, dildos of all shapes and sizes to spare.

Speaking of dildos, there is even a wall-mounted one in this joint. (Maybe it’s a real thing, maybe it’s not, but it’s very funny.) Inheriting the hilariously peculiar sex toy is the furious, gun-toting no-nonsense cop Sukie (an always great but never better Beanie Feldstein ), after a painful breakup from her girlfriend. Her enraging ex? It’s the terrific Margaret Qualley ’s feisty Jamie, a sexually very active adventurer who’d try anything once, fidelity be damned. And what’s a break-up for Jamie if not an opportunity to hop on a journey with her uptight and principled lesbian bestie Marian ( Geraldine Viswanathan , with her quietly mesmerizing star power), who just wants to get to Florida for a spot of birdwatching. They would get there alright, but not before stopping at famous lesbian bars, BBQ spots and motels across an itinerary that Jamie has plotted, with the hopes of helping the brainy Marian loosen up a little, maybe even have some casual sex on the side.

The backdrop is 1999 with its Y2K frenzy and an impending conservatism in the air, a time-period that effectively (and thankfully) eliminates excessive cell phones and all of social media as obstructions to a successful crime caper. The women’s plan is simple—check out a drive-away car that is ought to be on its way to Tallahassee. They score one at Curlie’s ( Bill Camp ) shady little establishment that sets up such deals. Except, it ends up being the wrong car, loaded with a mystery suitcase once stolen by an enigmatic collector ( Pedro Pascal ) and supposed to be driven by a pair of small-time felons—the smooth-talking chatterer Arliss ( Joey Slotnick ) and the perennially agitated Flint (C. J. Wilson)—to its eventual owner. (Wait until you see its contents—unlike “ Pulp Fiction ,” this one will show you what’s inside.)

The film breezily toggles between Marian and Jamie’s borrowed Dodge Aries and the felons’ car tailing them, giving us not one, but two pairs of mismatched and bickering road buddies for the price of one. While Slotnick and Wilson — who were previously in Ethan Coen’s collection of stage plays, A Play Is a Poem  — are intriguing enough, the main attraction is of course the dynamic bonding between Jamie and Marian. With her exaggerated Southern accent and at-ease body language both alluringly catty and muscular, Qualley is simply a firecracker, an explosive and voracious sprit bursting with the kind of energy that once again cements her as a once-in-a-generation talent. Balancing Qualley’s uncontainable energy is Viswanathan’s gradually swelling verve until her Marian is finally splayed open, an arc that Viswanathan beautifully charts as one of the most striking leading actors working today (and who should be trusted with a lot more leading roles pronto). Elsewhere, Feldstein is the film’s secret weapon as the ferocious officer who’d do anything to send the desperate goons after Jamie — she owns Sukie’s rightful rage and steals some of the film’s funniest scenes. In shorter roles, Matt Damon and Colman Domingo leave riotous impressions as a conservative and corrupt politician and the film’s chief baddie respectively.

Sometimes, there is the slightest air of obviousness in “Drive-Away Dolls,” which can’t avoid inevitable comparisons to older (and better) idiosyncratic crime capers, many of them by the Coens themselves. But that doesn’t lessen the nostalgic bliss the film stirs in one with all its foul-mouthed, naughty glory; not when the fun had by everyone involved in the project is so palpable on the screen. In that, there is a disarming what the hell, why not quality to Cooke and Coen’s writing, with the carefree words and actions of Jamie and Marian jovially bouncing off the page and landing on the viewers’ eyes and ears with the same jubilant vigor. More importantly, the aftertaste of this madcap escapade is unexpectedly sweet and romantic thanks to its unapologetic commitment to womanly smarts and pleasures. Across dusty Americana landscapes, vibrant locations frozen in time and a pair of trippy flashbacks, “Drive-Away Dolls” has the kind of oomph you simply want to run away with.

Tomris Laffly

Tomris Laffly is a freelance film writer and critic based in New York. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), she regularly contributes to  RogerEbert.com , Variety and Time Out New York, with bylines in Filmmaker Magazine, Film Journal International, Vulture, The Playlist and The Wrap, among other outlets.

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Film credits.

Drive-Away Dolls (2024)

Margaret Qualley as Jamie

Geraldine Viswanathan as Marian

Beanie Feldstein as Sukie

Colman Domingo as Chief

Pedro Pascal as Santos

Matt Damon as Senator Channel

Bill Camp as Curlie

Joey Slotnick as Arliss

C.J. Wilson as Flint

Connie Jackson as Aunt Ellis

Miley Cyrus as Tiffany Plastercaster (uncredited)

• Tricia Cooke

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