What is it about this movie that the critics love? Honestly?

Rating: 2/10 (13 June 2012)

From the moment Drive starts and the lovely pink cursive credits come upon the screen there is a dragging feeling. Will the credits ever end? My wife and I watched this together and almost in unison we questioned.."What's up with the pink writing?" The point being that the credits are that intrusive to illicit a response from two people. And we found out...it sets the tone for the whole movie to go on too long.
I am all for acting...and I will watch a 4 hour movie...or a miniseries in one sitting...IF it's good. In my opinion this was not good...it had the potential to be good. Ryan Gosling is a great actor. But Drive was not a vehicle for him to be that actor. There was a point when I turned to my wife and said "Is he ever going to say something?" And then of course he opened his mouth to make me look like an ass.
This continued throughout the course of the movie. His silence did not further the story it made it painful and dragged it down. There was such long pauses between him and Carey Mulligan that it physically hurt to just watch them stare at each other. They would stare, then smile, then stare, then smile, and then stare some more.
Carey Mulligan is a beautiful young actress who was COMPLETELY underused in this film. She could have been a much stronger dynamic in the film...however the director just simply chose not to. Which leads me to really wonder if she was miscast. I thought she was beautiful in the film and her demeanor, personality and beauty did not translate into a Denny's waitress married to a Mexican petty criminal. I didn't feel it.
Bryan Cranston is another one that is a GREAT actor, but he played his character too twitchy. His focus on money seemed odd when knowing the cars he has and the garage with tools and equipment, plus building and land are probably worth A million plus. And to run your business for that long and then be THAT stupid. Well...you'll see if you watch. At least out of his stupidity it did make a situation for Ryan Gosling to actually talk.
Ron Perlman is one of my favorite actors, but fell short in this role. He plays the Mob partner of Albert Brooks. Who did the most he could with the material given, but then again you are left thinking how are these people this stupid? Not to give away the ending but it is one of those that leaves you saying to yourself "This is it?" I understand that they tried an artsy approach, and were trying to be brilliant with it. That's fine as long as you have story, dialog, and acting to back it up. It just goes to show that the "paid" critics wouldn't know a good movie if it swam up their urethra.