At least he’s a professional, I guess. Sure, it’s highly unrealistic for a Formula 1 team -no matter how desperate- to acquire a 50+ year-old driver, especially if they want to change their fortunes. Google tells me that a 55-year-old started the Monaco Grand Prix in 1955. Yeah, that sounds about right. 70 years ago, one (1) team was willing to throw away their chances for a day? Dunno what motivated them, but yeah, ok. At least this guy is a pro. That matters, because both movies and real life have presented us of late with far too many cases of “guy who doesn’t belong here” in a position of power as if merely putting a chump on a throne makes him a king.
Of course, we could see Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) as a mentor to rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). In that case, F1 becomes sort of a racing version of Bull Durham, except without the humor … or the sex … or the fun. In any case, what you got here is A LOT of movie and very movie plot to go with it. Sonny was once a promising F1 driver. But that was thirty years ago. When they used to have a show. He couldn’t leave the “sport,” so now he shows up any locale where is a race: arenas, beaches, strips malls, cafeterias, etc.
Naturally, his exploits on minor league playgrounds have attracted his old buddy Ruben (Javier Bardem) who owns APXGP. Ruben’s team sucks, so he wants to make it worse, turning down the desiccated corpse of Mario Andretti in favor of Sonny. This isn’t the only factual fiction the film makes. F1 also implies that rookie Josh Pearce has no future unless he pulls it together this year. Hold up. You have a guy who is 22 and capable of winning an F1 race … and this is his last chance?! Do you not understand sports, like, at all?
The film takes us through Sonny’s reluctant mentorship – healthy practices and good work ethic off the course and then a series of iffy tactics on the course in order to secure some really cheap racing points. For instance, at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Sonny starts
ramming other drivers to trigger “safety car” periods during which time Josh can close the gap between “hopelessly behind” and “only a little behind.”
IRL, I think Sonny gets kicked out of F1 racing after one race, maybe two. Again, this is a movie, so we get to see an entire clown car of antics Sonny pulls out over the next two hours.
OK, to this point, you might think I hated this film. I did not. Brad Pitt is as good as any lead actor in the biz, and I was genuinely interested in seeing how APXGP and Josh Pearce wended their way back to competitive racing. But the film is too long and too unrealistic to take seriously. I think you really have to enjoy Pitt or F1 racing or sports pedantry to get behind this thing. Truth be told, I enjoyed the unrealism in Gran Turismo more than F1. But, hey, another big testosterone film from writer/director Joseph Kosinski. What’s next? Pro Wrestling? Professional Tug-of-War? Literal dick measuring? If men are willing to kill for a prize, he’s there to highlight the old guy who can still bring it.
There once was a geezer named Sonny
Whose racing career lacked for prize money
And yet, here’s his chance
With his fiftysomething dance
To tell us all a joke that’s not funny
Rated PG-13, 155 Minutes
Director: Joseph Kosinki
Writer: Joseph Kosinski, Ehren Kruger
Genre: Movies for bros
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Let me guess: You have a need? A need for speed, perhaps?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who prefer talent to bullshit
