Drive (film)/YMMV

• Adaptation Displacement: The novel of the same name by James Sallis.
• Award Snub: Much to everyone's surprise the only nomination this movie got was Best Sound Editing at the Oscars. Especially surprising was the snub for Albert Brooks for Best Supporting Actor.
• Complete Monster: Bernie and Nino, especially after Albert Brooks had snatched up Best Supporting Actor nominations at almost every major award show.
  • Possibly subverted or at least played with as far as Bernie is concerned. When he kills Shannon he seems generally displeased that he has to and makes sure that he kills him in a way that, while brutal, is relatively painless after the initial injury.
  • Nino has shades of grey, too, really. There are hints his theft is equal parts revenge for an entire lifetime of being belittled and a bid for respect from the same people belittling him.
• Critical Dissonance: Critics and festival audiences have loved this movie, but audiences haven't been as responsive about it.
  • It's still doing pretty well. Normally, crime movies by Danish directors released by small-time distributors don't make $20 million in two weeks. Just ask the people who distributed Bronson.
• Crowning Music of Awesome: Most of the score and the song "Real Hero".
• Ear Worm: He's a real human being... and a real hero... He's a real human being...
  • There's something inside you...it's hard to explain...
• Ensemble Darkhorse: Virtually every critic, whether they liked the film or not, praised Albert Brooks' performance as Bernie.
• Fridge Horror: Since Irene probably didn't call the police after Driver smashed a hitman's head in, the body would probably have remained there, scaring any poor resident of the apartment block who uses the elevator.
  • Worsened still for Irene, who saw how it actually happened.
• Memetic Mutation: A real human being. And a real hero.
• Memetic Outfit: Driver's white satin jacket with embroidered gold scorpion on the back, driving gloves, skinny tight black jeans, light colored madison boots, and a hammer.
• Padding: Most of the movie is padded out with long shots of the characters staring into space, which has gotten negative attention from a lot of audiences (many of whom were expecting, understandably given the title and premise, something more along the lines of The Fast and the Furious).
• Role Association:
  • Walter apparently decided to quit the meth trade and become Ryan Gosling's boss.
  • Joan's granddaughter fell in with the wrong crowd.
  • Clay Morrow apparently left Charming behind to move to LA, run a pizza joint and go into business with Aaron Altman.
  • Hercules develops a thing for Sally Sparrow
• Squick: A few of the deaths are pretty graphic but Driver stomping on a man's face until it's basically mush probably takes the cake.
  • Also Blanche's head getting blown to smithereens by a shotgun blast.
• Tear Jerker: The shot near the ending where Irene knocks on the Driver's door and gets no answer. Likely depends upon whether or not you think he died at the end.
• Uncanny Valley Makeup: Driver's stunt double mask.
• Unfortunate Implications: The hero (and his pure-of-heart love interest, though she was originally written to be Hispanic) being WASP-y as can be, and the villains being explicitly Jewish.
  • Then again, Irene's husband is Hispanic, and while he is involved in criminal activity, he ultimately comes across as sympathetic.
  • There's also the fact that the main villains have sympathetic qualities despite doing despicable things. If every ethnic minority was always a positive role model in cinema it would be just as offensive.
  • There's also the minor matter of both Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman being Jewish, and having a major role in building their characters in the screenplay.
  • Also, Carey Mulligan's Irish(hence the last name), and it's never out-and-out implied what ethnicity Irene is.
  • Similarly, you can't really call the Driver a "Hero", either. There's a lot of Black and Grey Morality going on in this movie.
• The Woobie: Irene; hard not to be when you're played by Carey Mulligan.