Geeky Daddy Movie Review Of Baby Driver

When I first heard about this film, I thought “Man, what a stupid title for a movie.”

After watching this rather entertaining movie, I left the theater understanding where the name of the movie came from, but I was still like “Man, what a stupid title for a movie.”

The best way I can describe this entertaining ride would be a Fast & Furious movie combined with a Fat Boy Slim music video: IF the Fast & Furious cast could actually act and the Fat Boy Slim video actually told a story.

The Story

The Professor (Kevin Spacey) puts together different crews for different heist, all using the same getaway driver: a young talented driver with Tinnitus (ringing in the ears). The only thing that keeps is ear ringing in check: A very diverse soundtrack!

The Players

This is the first movie I have ever seen Ansel Elgort in, since I have not seen the Divergent movies and somehow missed The Fault In Our Stars (by “somehow” I mean “I had no desire to”). Overall I was impressed by his performance.  He was very convincing as this quirky character and showed a wide range of emotions.

Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx and John Hamm all contributed with their usual outstanding performances as well. Especially Hamm, whose character was able to flip the switch from a likable buddy character to sociopath successfully. Many performers come off as over-acting trying to make that switch.

I would have liked to have seen more of Jon Bernthal in the film, seeing as how he was in every commercial I saw. His role was more a cameo and since it was towards the beginning of the film, I kept expecting to see him pop up again at some point.

The Good

The music used in the movie obviously played a huge role. Whether setting the mood for certain scenes or communicating emotions, the incredibly diverse soundtrack was perfectly selected and utilized.

The car chase stunts were also expertly choreographed to combine excitement with humor. It was nice to watch a car movie that did not come off as an obvious 2 hour commercial for a certain brand (cough…Fast & Furious..Dodge..cough).

The dialogue was smart and quick throughout leaving with the viewer with a soft spot for all the characters, even the serial killer ones.

It does leave you wondering how good Marvel’s Ant-Man could have been.

The Not-So-Good

I really enjoyed the story more so than the intermediate dance/music videos that Edgar Wright mixed in. While those scenes were entertaining, after a while I found them a little annoying and distracting from the well written plot.

I was not a huge fan of the ending either. Without giving too much away, I thought the film should have ended about 10 minutes earlier than it did.

The Result

In the end, I really enjoyed Baby Driver and am giving it a 4 out of 5 on the Geeky Daddy Movie Rating Scale and a Not Kid Friendly on the Geeky Daddy Sidekick Safe Scale.