disappointed by the hype

Rating: 3/10 (28 April 2012)

This film was well-reviewed here on IMDb and in the LA press. I was shocked to see such high reviews for a film. Some of the reviews were excessively positive, i.e. "best movie I've ever seen", etc.
I watched the film and was underwhelmed and surprised by many technical errors and "leaps of faith" I had to make to believe this storyline.
The director seemed to favor awkward pauses in the dialog of the two main characters, Gosling and his neighbor. This wasn't natural. Sometimes there was no dialog when there should have been, and other times there was superfluous and unexplainable dialog, such as the scene in the coffee shop between Gosling and some former client who recognizes him.
The screenwriter wants us to believe that the Gosling character, in his 20's, possesses some sort of innate ability to drive from crime scenes, expertly navigating Los Angeles, avoiding the LAPD, while working as a stunt driver and mechanic in Hollywood. In reality, most of these stunt drivers are older, seasoned, unionized veterans and not mysterious young ex-cons or mechanics. The intent was to create mystery and awe for the Gosling character but it just doesn't work. This is right out of the "Jerry Bruckheimer playbook of romantic character development" (See Gone in Sixty seconds)and I just wasn't buying it.
I expected technical expertise in the driving scenes, but they were average and were fraught with technical errors----- visible skid marks where the scenes were rehearsed, inappropriate "foley" effects for the cars, and the worst case---- where Gosling's character rams Nino's limo at least twice at high speeds, yet his Chevrolet still has functioning headlights and no visible damage! The plot asked too much to believe. All those dead bodies and no police investigation or attention? Why did Gosling's character wear a Hollywood disguise of a bald guy to kill Nino, when the bald crook was already dead------- having been killed in Nino's restaurant? Why does Gosling's character repeat the phrase, "you got me for five minutes" when each job may be different? Gosling's character seems to operate in a vacuum free of police scrutiny. This movie tries to duplicate characters like Steve Mcqueen, Clint Eastwood, and other mysterious men of few words.
The problem is it doesn't work in "The Driver."