‘Baby Driver’ Review 

Mozart in a Go-Kart

Listen carefully you hear that? Well I know you can’t actually hear anything, you’re simply reading this review. But off somewhere in the distance, is me still giving this movie a standing ovation. Baby Driver, Edgar Wright’s latest masterpiece just hit theatres, and people and critics alike are singing praises about it. Now ever since I can remember, I have loved everything Edgar Wright has ever done. He’s simply brilliant, and one of the best working directors in Hollywood today. Hot Fuzz, Shaun of The Dead, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, just to name a few are some of my favorite movies ever made. Hot Fuzz to this day remains in my top 15 flicks of all time, I’ll never forget the first time I watched that movie. So after all the drama that went into his Ant–Man experience, which we all know would have been spectacular, we were all left waiting for Wright’s next work of art. Then a little trailer dropped for Baby Driver, and I was hooked instantly, everything about it made me super excited. The movie popped, and when I saw the cast, my jaw almost hit the floor. I’ll will certainly get into it later, but the cast for Baby Driver is truly one of a kind, but I’ll start by saying, HALLELUJAH, this is Jon Hamm’s moment. For films that is, the guy is already a bonafide rock-star, thanks to Mad Men, but it made me so happy to see that man kick so much ass in this movie.

So I’m not going to go to far into the plot of the movie, because at its core, there really isn’t a whole lot there. That’s not taking anything away from the movie at all; I just really want to make this spoiler free. So nothing that wasn’t in the trailer or you could gather from looking at the poster for the movie. So we have Baby, a getaway driver, who happens to suffer from tinnitus, which causes him to have a subtle ringing in his ears at all times. This was caused by a car wreck he was in when he was younger, which happened to kill both his parents. Baby, played by Ansel Elgort, ever so effortlessly as I might add. Baby comes across very smooth, and very confident, but at the same time very quite and shy. Ansel (so hot right now) sorry I had to make that reference, gives off all of these emotions with such ease, I was really impressed by him. This was the first time I really watched one of his movies, this kid as a seriously bright future. Baby works for Doc (Kevin Spacey), who is on top of his game here, as the fast talking, extremely cocky, baddest guy in town. There back story is simple, Baby steals a car that happened to belong to Doc, and when Baby dumps the car, little does he know, it was filled with a lot of “goods”. So When Doc tracks down Baby, he makes him his getaway driver for all the heists his team pulls. It just so happens that Baby is the best getaway driver anyone has ever seen. Doing all these different heists, Baby meets a bunch of interesting and colorful characters. Griff (Jon Bernthal) the muscle man. The asshole of the group, who sadly is only in like 5 minutes of the movie. Hopefully if they ever make a sequel he will come back, because in those 5 minutes, he was stealing the show in my opinion. We have Darling (Elza Gonzalez) and Buddy (Jon Hamm) who are husband and wife, and realistically what I’m calling “couple goals for 2017”. Darling is a little firecracker, who might seem very cute and innocent, but she is not to be messed with. Especially when it comes to getting between her and her man. Jon Hamm, this is your coming out party my man. I don’t know how he does it. Remember in Mad Men, how he was so incredible at playing the overly confident yet ironically  very sad man. Well he tees that one up again here, and he knocks it out of the park. No actor today, can pull of the sad drunken puppy dog look better than Hamm himself. I’m just so happy for Hamm, because he deserves to be a mega-star and I just don’t think he’s been getting the right roles, until now. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Jon Hamm needs to be Harvey Dent in the DCEU, but that’s a whole other discussion. Next we have Bats (Jamie Foxx) who is a sadistic, witty, and kind of charming guy. The oddball of the group, who really seemed like the darkest of the bunch. He loves crime and that’s why he does this for a living. Where everyone else, seem to be committing these crimes, because well they either don’t have a choice, or they need the money. Foxx is truly brilliant here, my god, when he’s on his game, Foxx is one of the better actors working today. He also happens to have some of the best lines in the entire movie; his comedic timing in this was flawless. Rounding out the cast we have Debora (Lily James) the love interest of Baby, and she was just so adorable. She works at the same diner that Baby’s mom used to work at, and the second Baby hears her sing, well he falls instantly and madly in love with her. The chemistry between James and Elgort was noticeable the first time they were on screen together, and it made me more invested into the movie. There’s nothing better, then when you can actually believe in the love story going on within the movie, because it seems real. They were so good together, and James herself was great, coming off her awesome performance in Cinderella. They knocked it out of the park when casting this movie; everyone fit their roles to perfection.

The script is written by Wright also, so not only does he direct this thing, he also wrote it, so just hats off to that guy (because everyone loves hats). Wright is known for is creative, original and stylistic way of making movies, and it showed in both his directing and his writing. His movies can be wacky and corny at times, and this is no exception, but it’s always done in such a tasteful manner, that you hardly even notice it. As a lover of music, I saw myself in Baby at times throughout the movie. Music is such a big part of this thing that it almost feels like a musical. Pretty much throughout the entire thing, there is a song blaring through Baby’s headphones, no matter what he is doing. Whether he’s dancing his way through the streets to retrieve coffee for the gang after another successful heist, or when he’s getting the lowdown for their next job. Wright captures people sharing headphones listening to a song together so romantically and touching, that you can forget just how much music can bring people together. The song choices are so on point, and the each song fits so well into each scene, it’s just a perfect blend of movie making and music sharing. He loves music so much, and it’s such a big part of his life, that at a certain point in the movie, he hijacks a car, but can’t drive it until he finds the perfect song on the radio to drive off too. Its little things like this that makes this experience so joyful and just so fresh.

This summer has been a massive let down for movies, and it was so nice to go into a movie, and not only be pleasantly surprised, but it was ORIGINAL. Yes, this is a heist movie, some of my favorites movies involve heists (Point Break, The Town), but this was different. The movie’s style is so carefully and perfectly crafted, the way everyone dresses, the colors, to even the music in certain scenes, just makes this one hell of a ride. The opening car chase is just incredible. We have seen this movie a million times before, this really is nothing new, but it’s the way Wright goes about it, that makes it feel like a breath of fresh air. With being unique and original. I’m sorry for all the times I used the word baby in this review, just wait till you see the movie, the word “baby” should maybe be outlawed. One last thing, I bet Mike Myers is pumped, he got the most screen time he’s had in about a decade.

I’m going to see this movie again, and I have a feeling, it will be sneaking into an all-timer for me, it’s hard to put into words how you truly feel about something, but this is the kind of movie, which makes you want to be a filmmaker. It made me feel happy inside made me think that if you work hard enough good things can happen. I love this movie to pieces and I’m so damn glad Edgar Wright left Ant-Man because if he didn’t I wouldn’t be writing this review right now. What can I say, it’s slick, fun, stylish, action packed and most of all stuffed with an incredible soundtrack. GO SEE THIS MOVIE.

Check ya later,

Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Baby Driver = 97/100