Ford v Ferrari

For me this whole thing felt extraordinarily contrived – as though the whole time I felt the hand of the writer. Race movies, and perhaps sports movies in general, often feel this way to me. It's a contest, but, look, the writer just gets to decide who wins. Of course, this is how all movies are; it's just that it seems so much more apparent in a sports movie.

James Mangold has made a film about a pair of men who do absolutely everything right. They're hardasses who fight when they need to fight and win when they need to win. It would appear from the title and the marketing that Ferrari is some sort of villain or antagonist in this movie. Not so. The antagonist in this movie is a smarmy Josh Charles, who has a petty vendetta against our hero Christian Bale. This whole thing is tired, and I was bored, despite the great sound work. I think Matt Damon is a good actor, but man does he make some terrible choices when he picks a script. This thing is a clunker.

I say all of this knowing that audiences have really responded to Ford v Ferrari and spent an enjoyable two-and-a-half hours at the theatre having fun with the car racing and Matt Damon's Texas accent and Christian Bale's noble, uncompromising hero. I think it's great that people are liking this. It wasn't for me.

One more thing, though. Why did the Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominate Christian Bale for good actor? Matt Damon's is the better performance in Ford v Ferrari. This seems strange to me.