A mostly good movie that frustrates because it could have been amazing

Rating: 6/10 (4 March 2020)

I saw Baby Driver for the first time close to three years ago now, back when it came out in cinemas. I remembered enjoying a good deal about it, but I've never found myself loving it; certainly not in the same way I've loved and still love Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End, and even Scott Pilgrim VS The World. Maybe my expectations were too high, I thought to myself. Because those last four Edgar Wright movies were so good, maybe I had hyped myself up too much for Baby Driver.
Having rewatched it now, only about a week ago, without a level of hype and with an open mind, I have to say, it still disappoints in many regards. HOWEVER: it's not a bad movie. Not by a long shot. There are things it does really well and I'll get to them of course, but I think it's the fact that it does so much right while also being slightly off in some regards that makes it feel disappointing. With just a few tweaks, I have no doubt this could be on the same level as the four aforementioned Edgar Wright movies, because ultimately, it's not too far behind (like I said: STILL A GOOD MOVIE).
So what's good? Well, most of the stuff the movie has always been praised for. It's got an inventive soundtrack, done in the Tarantino-style where many of the songs are relatively obscure (sure there are artists like The Beach Boys and Queen in there, but nothing as well-known as God Only Knows or Bohemian Rhapsody, respectively). I don't think it's done quite as well as Tarantino has pulled off in some of his best movies, but the soundtrack's there and it's pretty good overall. Some sequences are edited to the music (but not all, which was somewhat disappointing), and these were really impressive on a first watch, but sometimes a little gimmicky on a second watch. I guess the film has a bold, colourful, visually pleasing look, at least as good as all of Wright's other films. When compared to his other work, Baby Driver probably has the best action sequences too, with two very good car chases near the start (wish we'd gotten at least one more though), and an exciting shoot-out and on-foot chase later in the movie. It satisfies visually, and for the most part satisfies as an action movie, and these combined with the snappy editing and music largely serves to keep the movie from being truly boring.
Although something that doesn't help in this regard is the screenplay. It's easily Wright's weakest, and I do realise he was trying to branch out, and write something a little less comedic, but to me the tone is a mess. It's not funny enough to feel like a comedy, but it's too wacky and reliant on clichés (maybe in a self-aware way? I don't always know to be honest) to be taken seriously in the same way you might be able to take a movie a sort of similar film like Drive seriously. Take the opening scene: the title character jams out and lip syncs to music in his car while he waits for the criminals he drives to finish their heist. Is this supposed to be funny? Is he supposed to be cool here? Are we supposed to be laughing at him, or with him? Are we even supposed to be laughing?
The comedy in Wright's previous films was always done incredibly well. It's a shame there's little comedy here, because of how funny those movies were, and it's a shame there isn't genuine drama or even much tension in this film in place of the comedy. Somehow, Wright balanced comedy and drama in those previous movies so well that they were both funnier and more emotionally potent than Baby Driver. Shaun of the Dead and The World's End in particular both have some surprisingly heart-wrenching moments that somehow mesh perfectly well with the comedy. In Hot Fuzz's case, it has a legitimately fantastic twist that is far more engaging than any curveball thrown by Baby Driver, and Scott Pilgrim has more style (arguably too much) and in a way, more to say (about modern day relationships) than Baby Driver has to say about pretty much anything.
The confusing tone doesn't help the performances here either. I don't want to blame any performers specifically here because I'm not confident Wright had the best handle on his material in the first place. Jamie Foxx overacts, Ansel Elgort is a bit boring as a protagonist, and Lily James is disappointing, probably because she's given the weakest and most poorly written character in the film by far. Because of the latter case, I'm not sure how at fault Foxx and Elgort are. Jon Hamm is good though, and as much as I hate saying it post-#MeToo, Spacey does do a decent job for what he's given.
But yeah, when it comes to all the stuff with Lily James' character: it's honestly close to awful. I remember not loving the romance stuff the first time I watched the film, but the second time, it was sometimes wince inducing. Again, because of the lack of self-awareness (at least from what I can tell), I think we're supposed to take the instant relationship between her and Baby seriously, but I couldn't buy it for a second. Their first conversation is so bad, and the kind of thing that feels like it was written by a teenager who is still yet to form a relationship with somebody. Her willingness to go along with Baby's insane lifestyle while barely questioning it might have been believable with a goofier, more light-hearted tone, but because so much of the movie seems to want to be taken seriously, it makes the romance subplot really unconvincing and even uncomfortable.
So if the movie had been either funnier, or more serious, or done without a romance subplot, or had just contained another car chase or two, I think it could have been better. There is so much wrong here that could have been fixed with some more work on the screenplay; things that could've been tweaked to make the film flow more, and be either funnier or more emotionally satisfying. The fact this is both Wright's least funny and least emotionally engaging film is so disappointing. He usually does both so well in all his other movies, and so his failure to do so here is baffling. I'm curious rather than excited about his next film, because it's apparently a non-comedic horror movie. He's still a great director, so at the very least, I'm sure it will move well and look good in a similar way to Baby Driver. But if he doesn't nail the tone again, and fails once more to make something that isn't going for laughs, then I'll be disappointed.
And I know I'm overall in the minority, because Baby Driver was well received and regarded by most as just as good as his other films. I had some grievances I had to write down and get out of my system though, and for all my problems, I'll once again reiterate that Baby Driver does a good deal of things very well. I just hope I love Wright's future work the same way I loved the four films he made prior to Baby Driver, because it wasn't one I can say I love the same way I can for his others. I may be being pedantic, and I can't speak for everyone, but there are my thoughts on Baby Driver, close to three years in the making I guess...