Drive | I'm Ga Ga for Gosling

Here is an unabridged summary of everything I knew about Ryan Gosling prior to today:

At the coffee shop near my house there is a little chalkboard on the countertop that says "Ryan Gosling" on it with tiny pink chalk hearts.

Me: Ryan Gosling? Isn't he the dad from that TLC show with all the kids? I didn't know he warranted tiny pink chalk hearts...is he a common heart throb?
Brian: No. Ryan Gosling is an actor. I don't know what you are talking about.

And that about sums it up. (As it turns out, it was Jon Gosselin that I was thinking of. Thanks, Kelly.)

Thanks to one, Andy Hattemer, I've now know who Ryan Gosling is and have seen a Ryan Gosling movie. I watched Drive, per his recommendation:

Everything about the movie is opposite the current Hollywood garbage, and everything fits together very well to make a minimalist but very engrossing movie. Careful it gets violent. Also music is great.

Good sell, Hattemer. 

Let's get something out of the way up front: During the first 10 minutes of Drive, I realized that Ryan Gosling is like the badass incarnation of my Morning Talk Show Legal Analyst Crush, Dan Abrams. Dan Abrams-type + badass driving apparently equal a spot on the hall pass list. I'm just as surprised as you. /End girl talk.

I think Ryan Gosling's character said about 3 sentences total in the first half of the movie, but you still were able to form a really solid idea of what the character was all about, which is pretty impressive. Aside from Andy's hint about violence, I didn't see the second half of this movie coming at all. In fact, knowing that violence was coming made the movie more perplexing for me, because I couldn't figure out exactly how/why until it happened. I definitely jumped about a foot in the air no fewer than 3 times. The music, I agree, was great (synth-y, kind of 80s, somewhat ironic at times.) And the ending wasn't rainbows and kittens. Did I mention this movie was just one hour, forty minutes? Perfect. 

Verdict: I liked it and would watch it again. I'm hesitant to admit it, but maybe I like movies more than I thought...