In addition to conflating 'fashionable’ with fashion, acclaimed director Michael Mann can also be relied upon to deliver less than he promised. (THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS/’92 a notable exception. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-last-of-mohicans-1992.html) But here, in a neatly trimmed/well-observed bio-pic of Italian race car designer Enzo Ferrari (a project he’s toyed with making for decades), Mann finds just the moment of personal & profession crisis to allow us to extrapolate an entire life from. 1957: Company going broke; Wife vs. Mistress; Racing deadline. But if Mann delivers on his promise, it’s a pretty small promise, one where every twist & turn is tipped off with a foreshadowing thud. Each car crash, tragic death & marital compromise conveniently ‘signaled.’ Generally well acted, though Shailene Woodley feels helplessly miscast as the blonde mistress (her unacknowledged son with Ferrari looking as if he were adopted). And, perhaps inevitably, it’s the first car racing pic that has you leaving the theater not wanting a car, but one of the men’s suits. The style! The material! The trapezoid design on Adam Driver bulking him up above the waist sheer tailoring genius. They also try to deglamorize Penélope Cruz as the resentful wife . . . good luck with that! The film watchable; none too memorable.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Third choice after both Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman backed off (and who knows how many others over the decades), Adam Driver is awfully good, yet often seems to be looking over his shoulder, as if half expecting Daniel Day Lewis to show up on set and step into the part.
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