That said, the extreme lack of plausibility within the narrative context of these races is what does the movie in. Even when it s cool, it s stupid. Yeah, it helps establish him as the man , and for a base action hero that s all well and good. As with most brainless action movies, the relationship dynamics work on a very infantile level, as if the real world is nothing more than high school magnified. The love triangle between the hotshot, his cold archrival champion, and said champ s supermodel girlfriend has all the maturity of an episode of MTV s Undressed .
Tempers flare, tears are shed, and hearts are broken, all in such a ridiculously adolescent manner.
Sly s love interest ain t much better either. He s tagged with an investigative reporter who s assigned to follow him everywhere he goes. Again, it s stupid. For a movie that s all about guts and machismo, Driven ends up chickening out big-time. About halfway through even its bad guy becomes good, a turn that would ve worked in a better, deeper film but only comes off as weak here.