Driven (2019)

Driven is special because it turns a headline-ready true scandal into a slick, surprisingly human cat-and-mouse story about charisma, desperation, and the price of wanting in. Nick Hamm keeps the vibe brisk and stylish, letting the period detail and the Southern California sheen contrast with the tightening moral vise, while Jason Sudeikis brings anxious, lived-in complexity to the informant at the center of it all. Lee Pace is magnetic as John DeLorean—equal parts visionary swagger and cornered bravado—so you feel the seduction of his orbit even as you sense the trap being built. It’s not a procedural for viewers who want clean heroes and villains, but if you like crime thrillers with wit, heart, and performances that make real people feel uncomfortably real, this one’s an entertaining ride.

Driven clearly wants to be a slick, character-driven true-crime tale about charisma, desperation, and the slippery ethics of an FBI sting, and the casting does a lot of the heavy lifting—Lee Pace is magnetic as DeLorean, and Jason Sudeikis brings an anxious, opportunistic edge. The problem is it often feels like it’s circling the really juicy parts of the DeLorean saga rather than digging into them, with a shaggy structure and pacing that can make the story feel oddly slight for such a notorious scandal. If you’re hoping for a sharp, propulsive thriller or a deep historical breakdown of what actually happened, this may come off as derivative and frustratingly unfocused. But if you’re content with a low-key, performance-forward dramatization that plays more like a modest character study than a major true-crime event movie, it’s an easy enough watch.