Ferrari

Stars: Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Gabriel Leone, Derek Hill, Sarah Gadon, Jack O'Connell, Patrick Dempsey, Ben Collins

Director: Michael Mann

After the farrago of House of Gucci, Driver dusts off his accent as the head of another famous Italian family, the motor-racing mogul Enzo Ferrari. A cliche-ridden script, however, gives the star, made up as a middle-aged Enzo, and his fellow actors little chance to shine, although Cruz, as his disillusioned wife, does have her moments towards the end.

And, away from the staleness of the drama, the motor-racing scenes, although fast and giddily-shot, are mostly confusing, with little sense of which drivers are in which cars, or where they are in relation to their rivals in the race.

The film focuses on the Ferraris in 1957 at the time of what, partly thanks to a spectacular fatal accident, would be the last Mille Miglia - famous marathon races through the streets and byways of Italy.

Enzo himself is facing insolvency, and can only be rescued by one of his cars winning the Miglia - for which he needs money held by his wife and business partner Laura, for whom he still feels animal passion but no real love since their only son died from muscular dystrophy the year before.

Instead he spends what time he can with his mistress (Woodley in a poorly-written role, and not helped by her wavering Italian accent), who has also borne him a son.

Hard going at times, the film rarely springs to life and seems bogged down by its own paperwork. And the CGI-enhanced crashes hardly seem like the real thing at all. 'Racing,' says Driver, 'is our deadly passion. A terrible joy!' But little of either is on display here.

David Quinlan

USA/UK/Italy 2023. UK Distributor: STX International (Sky Original). Colour by Company 3 .
125 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 2.

Review date: 23 Dec 2023