“Corporations Triumph Over Cars in Ford v Ferrari”

I can very easily imagine a collective “sigh” made in reaction to my review of Ford v Ferrari, but I will also fight you on its inclusion on my list of “Trump-era movies that capture the Trump-era spirit.” Frankly, the script has itself over a barrel: There are two villains, one of those villains is couched in racist Italian stereotyping, and the other villain is a magnate asshole whose assholery is given motivation in the shape of daddy issues. The Russian nesting doll effect ends up taking time away from Christian Bale and Matt Damon, two good guys trying to do good things in a movie that gives way too much time to people I never gave a shit about.

There’s a First Man problem here, in that the character motivations are never fleshed out beyond the presumption that this is just what great men do; I think Bale and Damon are so well-matched together, and such a joy to watch on screen, that the failures of the writing are easily forgiven, but the whole picture needed more meat, less Trump in it.

You can read my full review over at Paste Magazine.