September 15, 2011 | 10:22 am

Two Jews on Film: ‘Drive’ review

Posted by Joan Alperin-Schwartz (video by Joan and John Schwartz)

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Ryan Gosling is ‘Driver’. He drives…fast…very fast…If you’re a burglar, he’s your go-to guy. Just make sure you get the job done in five minutes. Because that’s all you got…One minute late, Driver is gone.

Now, driving a get-a-way car is Driver’s night job. His day job is slightly more glamorous. Driver is a stunt driver for movies…That is, when he’s not working as a mechanic, for Shannon (Bryan Cranston) who just happens to be the Driver’s agent and manager as well.

Shannon is a man with a dream. He wants to fund a stock car for Driver to race on the professional circut. Enter…Bernie (Albert Brooks) a former movie producer, who is now a full blown crook tied to the mob. Yes they are still around…Anyway, after seeing Driver in action at the speedway, Bernie insists that his childhood friend and business partner, Nino (Ron Pearlman) join them in this venture. Shannon has no choice, but to agree. He’s not very fond of Nino. Afterall, a while back the dude fractured Shannon’s pelvis.

Meanwhile, when he’s not driving, Driver spends alot of time with his neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son. Driver likes Irene alot. We know this because he looks deep into her eyes, while cheesy music plays in the background. But before they can sail off into the sunset together, Irene’s husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac) is released from prison. Bummer…

Now it turns out, Standard owes these two nasty guys (who coincidentally happen to be Bernie and Nino) alot of money and if he doesn’t pay it back, Irene and her son might meet a very bad fate.

Story continues after the jump.

The Driver of course, will do anything to protect Irene and her son…So he agrees to help Standard get the money he owes.

I won’t tell you what how or what happens next. Wouldn’t want to spoil this over the top, excessively violent, borderline cartoonish film, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (The Pusher) Nicolas is a Danish dude, who I think wants very badly to be the next Quentin Tarrantino. Unfortunately I don’t see that happening…Not with this film, anyway.

I don’t have a problem with violence, but when you hear bones crack, again and again and again as Driver pulvarizes some poor guy’s face…Well, I wasn’t the only one in the audience laughing.

John and I once again agree…(Now I’m really starting to worry)...Check out our video to see how many bagels we gave this film.

‘Drive’ opens in theaters Friday, September 16, 2011. Wait for the dvd.

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