Tonight's Movie: F1: The Movie (2025)

F1: THE MOVIE (2025) is pretty much the perfect "summer movie," well-made, exciting, and highly entertaining.

That's perhaps not a surprise as the movie was brought to us by the same team which made the hit TOP GUN: MAVERICK (2022): Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Joseph Kosinski, cinematographer Claudio Miranda, and composer Hans Zimmer.

It's a longish film, at 155 minutes, but it's so enjoyable the time passes quickly.

Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, whose youthful hopes of success in F1 racing were ended by an accident. Now he's an over-the-hill racer who takes jobs anywhere he can find a car to drive.

Out of the blue Sonny is approached by his old pal Ruben Cervantes (an excellent Javier Bardem) to drive for his F1 team. Ruben has a young phenom, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), lined up for one of his cars but needs a second driver. Ruben is feeling the heat as his team is in debt and he could lose it; low on options, he's gambling on success from an unexpected driver, Sonny.

Sonny takes the job, and from there we watch the ups and downs of the Formula 1 racing season as Sonny also navigates relationships with Ruben, Joshua, and engineer Kate McKenna (an engaging Kerry Condon). He also deals with slimy board member Peter Banning (Tobias Menzies, who's note-perfect).

I know quite a bit about NASCAR but nothing about Formula 1 racing, so I have no idea how authentic the film is, but I can say it's an extremely fun watch.

Pitt brings both humor and depth to his role as the aging driver who's made some poor life choices but owns them and has learned a lot over the years. If Joshua is smart, he'll pay attention and learn from both Sonny's mistakes and his wisdom.

Idris is also very good as the younger driver, who's navigating racing stardom in a social media world. My favorite of the supporting cast was Bardem, who's purely likeable as the team owner.

Yes, you can see some of story beats coming from a mile away, but it's what the movie does with them that counts, and this film manages to feel fresh despite some familiar tropes. It's very polished filmmaking, but it's also got heart, while managing not to be manipulative. In short, it threads the needle on everything it does and does it all well.

I also like how the film handles a couple significant roles for women on the team, Kate and crew member Jodie (Callie Cooke), with another team member, Pippa (Rosie Dwyer) further in the background. Sure, Kate has a couple lines about what she's overcome to be in her position, but it feels authentic, rather than forced. Like everything else about the film, it works.

One of the movie's great pleasures is its look, as shot by Miranda, whether it's the gleaming auto building or a screen full of colorful cars. Pure eye candy.

Parental advisory: This film is rated PG-13. It's a relatively mild PG-13, as ratings go; there is swearing but it struck me as a bit less than many films of its type. There's also a brief love scene, and a couple disturbing wrecks, but nothing is graphic.

A trailer may be seen here.

Recommended for a fun time "at the movies."

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