It would be hilarious if Michael Mann cast Lady Gaga as Laura Ferrari.
The appeal of a biopic lies in the fact you want to know about the person it depicts. I'm a massive car nut, not necessarily Ferrari, but I still want to know about him because he sure was a carismatic figure. What I don't get is why every filmmaker today thinks the first thing they need to show us about a person is his sex life.
Another problem with biopics is you have about two hours and you need to pick a part of your topics life to show the viewer. Again, your choice falls to the problems resulting from his liasons. The movie opens with the explanation how Enzo and Laura built Ferrari in 1947 out of the rubbles of WWII. Then you jump 10 years forward to the point where they already are in financial trouble. I would have much rather watched how they built it.
Now, the racing scenes were ok. But they have done it much better decades before. The accident at the Mille was a real shocking, though. The violence shown in those pictures are in contrast to the rest of the movie, which was rather soft.
Acting was decent althought I agree the accents were too thick. Let everyone speak normal englisch, that way the viewer can assume they speak Italian but it's translated for us. Doing it like this gives the impression that everyone in Italy speaks accented english. Minor detail maybe, but it really felt cliched.
Overall an OK movie but if I'm honest I wouldn't recommended it to someone who wants to know about Ferrari. And for a casual viewer it's too generic. Could have been a fictional story altogether.
120 minutes of Adam Driver in a bad wig and bad accent calmly explaining his infidelity does not an engaging movie make.
Great acting and decent story, but the CGI really is terrible… If you don’t have the budget, just don’t do it, but don’t make something that cheap :skull:
Was expecting more of a story about the man not just a short part of it and even then it was a bit here there and everywhere. I’m sure the man was more interesting than just finding out he had an out of marriage son. Beautifully shot and didn’t find the acting or accents quite as bad as some say excluding Mr Dempsey why he was chosen I don’t know.
I had such a hard time understanding the heavily accented English... Honestly I'd have preferred if the movie was just in Italian with subtitles. Then I might've actually understood what was going on.
Same bullshit approach as another previous movie about the life of Lamborghini. How these people take a life-story of a dude who built a world famous super car and make that story boring AF is beyond my comprehension. No automotive enthusiast starts watching these types of movies expecting elaborate scenes of the founder’s private life.
For every 1 minute of this movie where we see Ferrari working with his team discussing the building of cars and racing, we see 20 minutes of his private life related dumbfuckery. It almost feels like they shot those 1 in 20 interesting car related parts just to include in the trailer.
Penélope Cruz is one of the most overrated actresses, joined by Adam Driver who seem to have joined this movie to aim for an Oscar or something. Also, what's with the accents? Was that supposed to make the characters look authentic?
All this and the fact that the thing goes on for over 2 hours made the viewing experience somehow worse than that Lamborghini movie. No wonder this only made $35.9 million in box office after burning through a budget of $95 million. I have no idea where that $95 million went. Money Laundering, most probably :joy:.
Watch Ford v Ferrari instead of this https://trakt.tv/movies/ford-v-ferrari-2019 .
For me, Adam Driver has lost a bit of his status as a "must-see" actor recently. His choice of roles is not always the best, and "Ferrari" didn't necessarily appeal to me beforehand either. And ultimately, it's a pretty subdued biopic, in which Driver is allowed to pull off the fake Italian accent he learned for "House of Gucci." He's not necessarily bad, even if Penélope Cruz steals his thunder a little.
However, the film did not really captivate me. Driver's portrayal of Enzo Ferrari didn't make me any more interested in the life of the sports car pioneer. And the focus of the movie is clearly on Ferrari's private life. Racing action only takes place in the last 30 minutes, and even if it is well staged, the whole thing doesn't come close to films like "Ford v Ferrari." It should also be mentioned that one crash sequence in particular is quite drastic, which doesn't really fit well with the movie.
All in all, this competently directed biopic is certainly watchable. You just shouldn't expect to be blown away, though. Director Michael Mann is obviously long past his prime, but you also shouldn't write him off completely, even at the age of 81.
No where near as good as Ford v Ferrari. The acting was dry. The pacing was really slow, then a split second of fast and back to slug pace. The design was great, but it was barely shown. I wanted really cool looking frame shots, but it didn't provide enough. The crashes were fantastic, but the dummy's flying out are weirdly funny. I was both sad and laughing. The music was good at moments but when you want a big moment you want big music, there wasn't anything that felt like that. Disappointed, I was really looking forward to this, ignoring all the bad reviews, but now I join them.
The main highlight of the movie was Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari but even the forced English accent makes it sound like it was an Oscar bait, they should've either done the movie in full Italy with English subtitles or just pure English tbh. I wanted more content on cars but ended up getting a little too much about Ferrari himself but it was probably my fault for expecting this to be solely focused on cars.
Is Ferrari a checkered flag or a pit stop? I don't know it's a mixed bag honestly and depends on what you expect it to be. Ultimately the movie ends up being more of a character study.
not a bad movie but it was kind of hard to follow sometimes. especually eith the forced accent on top of the flip floppyness of the story. The racing was good but at some points it just looked like someone recording without a stabilizer. but that's just me nitpicking. all in all I'd say it's still worth a watch but just without high expectations.
honestly thought it would be better and more about the racing but it was more about his love life. felt like there was only 15mins of racing in the whole movie.
quite a few people in the cinema checking the time on their phones which implied I wasn't the only one not that interested in it.
Like a soap opera digest: skips over the facts to focus on the romantic drama.
Like this year's Napoleon, there was a lot I wanted to know about the subject and none of it was in the film.
Credit where it's due, though, the film did a nice job recreating the era and Adam Driver was one, but if you want to be truly entertained watch Ford v Ferrari again or maybe an episode of Succession, which at least has the decency to be shorter.
A biopic without any interest and without any goal.
Two of biggest actors in a decent film. As italian It have been strange listen people form my country speaking english. In Emilia Romagna (the land where Ferrari lived) there is gorgeous dialect. We had to give up this.
I am not sure what is this movie about. It is so generic.
If you came to watch this movie thinking it was going to be a movie about car racing you were probably disappointed. Yeah there is going to be some of that because that is the business of the protagonists but this movie is a drama about people and their conflicts and heartbreaks.
It was a very good movie. Shailene Woodley was awful at trying to play an Italian woman. Her accent was horrible. Not sure what the casting director was thinking casting her in this movie.
Adam Driver was good of course but for me the heart of this movie was Penelope Cruz. Penelope Cruz had my attention from the very first scene she was in and she did not let up the whole movie. I’m actually quite surprised she didn’t not get more recognition during awards season.
Those last few minutes of the movie were just stunning and I didn’t not expect what happened at all.
What an unexpectedly great movie. My respect to the director and also to Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz. Bravo!
All in all, this movie would rather be a 6.5 or even a 7. Not perfect but definitely a recommendation. I'll save myself any further elaboration on the plot here and reduce my justification for my 4 star rating: Why do all the ITALIANS in this movie speak English with an Italian accent, what the fuck Michael Mann and also Adam Driver. First House of Gucci and now Ferrari. Maybe it's a me problem, but I automatically can't take the movies seriously anymore
basically, not a good movie.
What I love most in this movie is the way of "Penelope has a spanish accent, it is closed enough to pass as italian, let it go like that"
I seen more zoom in shots of Maseratti logos than I seen Ferrari logos. And too many shaky cam shots during the races. But overal decent movie although I rather seen the very beginning of the company instead.
The movie manages to do one thing well: to show Americans "how beautiful is Italy". It fails on everything else: yet again an English with a stupid Italian accent (not as strong as in Gucci), a random cut on the biography of Enzo Ferrari, more focused on him with the wife than on the overall story of the car and the brand, Adam Driver out of characters, the car racing sequences even nice to see, but again randomly put up.
The bones of a good movies seem to be in place: incredible cast, beautiful location, and a famous family. But there is something missing from this movie, and that is a story that is worth turning into a movie. Its not that it is a bad story, it just isn't something that is worthy of a movie. This movie probably had to be a 3 hour epic in order to really be worthwhile. As it was, it barely skimmed the surface on the man and the car. I hate to make the comparison but Ford vs. Ferrari was infinitely more interesting and entertaining.
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I don't like it. It was slow developing movie with focus on nothing. That whole movie has no point. I didn't learn something about the man behind the Ferrari brand. But it looks like this is the style of the director Michael Mann.
p.s.
There are better movies about automobilism these days. So why don't you check something else? (you got my point, hopefully).
Rated a Connor 0, normal 5
Great performances all around here based on a dark year in the history of Ferrari both professionally and personally. While Driver commands a great interpretation of the aging Ferrari, Cruz shines as his wife. This is one of Michael Mann's better recent films and worth a watch.
I really enjoyed Adam Driver, Penelope was overacting (in my opinion) and took the movie down a bit.
Adam driver drives Ferrari :car:
Enjoyed the movie overall, I am an avid motor racing fan so was familiar with some elements but found enough new information to fully hold my attention. The poor italian accents were a little distracting, but nothing I couldn't get past. It's not the best movie, but it's certainly not too bad.
The movie says society is like a dangerous place ruled by bad people, and even things like sports and art make it look better than it is. It talks about how businesses act like they're honest but really aren't, and how personal history is part of it too. It's a film about how people create a fake image of being respectable. Mann, the creator, really admires the main guy and the stories around him, making the movie strong.
Not really my cup of tea since I also don't care about cars, almost fell asleep but it was interesting enough.
That crash scene made my jaw drop, heartbreaking.
Not really what I expected as it followed more the personal life of Ferrari and not the actual racing part about the company, but thats ok because one I got over that the film was entertaining enough, but at the least really well done (filmed and casted). Yes it was hard to understand and follow a bit with the very thick accents the two English actors had to portray, but once you knew what was going on the plot was good. It did not give the audience enough of a background nor subtext to the plot as it dropped the audience right into 15 years into the history of the company when both personally and business wise, Ferrari was going through a lot of big decisions. It followed more the secret affair and how that was affecting the company potentially being bought and his reputation and his relationship with his young son. The drama and few majestic car and scenery scenes made it for a decent watch still, and if you have seen "Ford vs Ferrari," it tied in some story pieces there that was interesting to learn. But the weird timeline pick and lack of emphasis on the business/car side is what drags this film down, despite what I said prior or the acting because Adam Driver was a perfect pick.
Michael Mann in his fuckin bag on this one. Better than I thought it'd be and I had zero idea about the story it was telling.
Do not go into this movie thinking it is a sports movie about racing, that it is not.
Shout by SwaggerBlockedParent2024-01-28T17:15:05Z
This was disappointing because I had no idea what exactly was at stake here. We jump into the story after Ferrari had already established his brand, we're watching his broken marriage to his wife unfold in the most annoying performance I've seen Penelope Cruz give in a while, we're watching him "struggle" to accept a child he and everyone else but his wife know about, oh and there's a race he has to win because if he doesn't... I don't know, something happens.
Zero stakes are felt throughout the movie.
A rare Mann blunder.