Split Decision: "F1 The Movie"
Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 2:56PM
In the Split Decision series, our writers pair up and face off on an Oscar-nominated movie one loves and the other doesn't. Or, in this case, both are "split" on. Today, BEN MILLER and NATHANIEL R discuss F1 The Movie...
F1 THE MOVIE - nominated for 4 Oscars including Best Picture
BEN: Of the Best Picture nominees, F1 is clearly the one that barely made the list. We talked a bit about director Joseph Kosinski and his film during our Best Director discussion, but I'm curious where your thoughts on the film land.
Personally, I feel like F1 is an entertaining carbon copy of Top Gun: Maverick, but with Formula One race cars instead of Navy fighter jets (in a good way). It certainly did not sniff my top films of the year, but it felt like the Academy needed another mainstream hit to shut up the discourse machine for a few days. On that front, I think they did a great job. But, like I said, there is no world where F1 is one of the top ten films of the year, despite liking it. It's too long and lazy at times, but I was never anything less than entertained. I have a feeling you are not as high on it as I, and I'm pretty middling on it as it is...
NATHANIEL: Honestly maybe we need more trouble-making contrarian friends to weigh in? We're in a similar boat. In my rankings of the film year it comes in at #40 which is to say, totally solid. I enjoyed it and when I do think about it it's mostly with fondness. It's entertaining and I seldom complain about watching Brad Pitt for two hours but "Best"? Insert heart eyes AND eye roll emoji... so they kinda cancel each other out and I'm left with "good movie". But no more than good.
For one thing all of the stuff with the young arrogant rookie versus the confident pro felt extra boilerplate. Brad is a skilled enough movie star to make these things pop but he's certainly letting his screen charisma carry a good deal of the movie's load. His co-star Damson Idris doesn't help lift it out of the trope zone and into something electric. I don't want to be uncharitable because he's not bad at all in the movie but I think there's a reason the media didn't get enthused and elevate him into the "breakthrough" style press mania / awards run playing field where people like Chase Infiniti, Tonatiuh, Miles Caton and Eva Victor were this season. I also wish the supporting cast were more interesting. There are a lot of good actors in this movie but aside from Brad no one is really "popping" so I wonder how they could have elevated it beyond "good". It's handsomely made -- I understand the Sound, Editing, and Visual Effects nominations -- but I guess the human drama part is where it needed more engine tinkering for horsepower. If I were Kosinski seeing the rushes I would have made lots of in the moment tweaks to amp up the Kerry Condon role. It's not just that she's the love interest but that her actual job within the movie is interesting. Oh, and one more scene with Sarah Niles (who plays the young rookie's mother) because I just love her on the regular and her parts are always way way too small for her screen presence and acting gifts.
Story time. I went to an advance screening of this on one of Manhattan's most massive screen (AMC Kips Bay). When we got to theater lobby it was sweltering and the PR people and theater employees warned us that air conditioner was broken in the theater but they were working on it. They gave out free ice cream and water and we had paper fans but we were sweating buckets for the (unconscionable) running time of 155 minutes. This is how good of a movie star Brad Pitt is: I only once contemplated bailing (and that was when the start time came and went, the movie hadn't started and we were already drenched in sweat. I am 1000% a fall/winter person - everyone else looks forward to warm weather but f I'm not at a beach or a pool I have zero interest. Anyway as soon as Brad was doing his thing I was okay. Fine, fine, I'll just wipe the sweat from my eyes every few minutes and get carpel tunnel from waving this fan around. So I credit Brad and Stephen Mirrione in the editing bay on those racing scenes for getting me through it. Having a bonafide movie star zoom around inside his own Star Vehicle (get it?) in well cut action scenes -- there are worse ways to spend 3 hours.
What did you think of the supporting cast? And what would you have cut to bring down that insane running time in a movie that's literally about speed and finishing as soon as superhumanly possible? (It's not necessarily Mirrione's fault that there is so much padding since he's keeping the rhythms going and the action exciting.)
BEN: I really think Javier Bardem is putting in some excellent work. He balances the easy charisma with the pressure as well as having the bonafides to pass as a driver from back in the day. I'm not saying the film made a mistake by focusing more on Pitt than Bardem, but I'm much more interested in that movie than what we got. I agree that Condon was underserved, but delivers in a way that her immense talents more than make up for. She sold not only her personal struggles in her role with the race team, but the connection with Pitt. If I have a gripe with the performances, it's with Pitt and Idris. Pitt's natural charisma automatically sells the film, but he underplays absolutely everything to the point where he seems bored. And this is by no means a movie where you should be bored! So much is going on! Instead, he cruises along, knowing he is right while everyone else is wrong. I don't know if I wanted the character to care more, or the actor. Either would have made the film more lush. As for Idris, he is little more than an archetype. There is no Goose-like history he shares with his teammate, a la Top Gun: Maverick. He's just a guy who got there because he deserved to be? That's under-established as well. We should want this kid to succeed, but it takes Pitt's coaxing for anyone to give the slightest crap that he is successful. Idris nails the cocksure nature of his character, but there has to be some sort of vulnerability as to not alienate the audience, which never comes until the last 20 minutes. The aforementioned Sarah Niles is sorely underused, putting Pitt in his place in that one scene was a particular highlight.
It's just too stock of a story. Wonderkind with demons comes back to teach the new generation while overcoming adversity and finding love. If not for the extremely dynamic racing scenes (Daytona under fireworks was a particular highlight), would anything in this film be worthwhile? Let me ask you this: if this film was about Indy Car racing, would this have ever gotten this much juice? In fact, how much of this film is a carbon copy of the 2001 Stalone vehicle (no pun intended) Driven. This film is much more of a propaganda vehicle to promote Formula One. In that sense, it did a great job.
Do you think someone with a touch more commitment would have worked better than Pitt? Are most of the problems script-based?
NATHANIEL: Underplaying usually comes from very confident actors but it doesnt work for every character. So your question "I don't know if I wanted the character to care more, or the actor" is just fascinating to me. It's making me wonder if my immense love for Brad Pitt as a movie star (I've been in the pocket since he stole Thelma's heart and annoyed Louise in 1991) has colored my judgement of how well he's handling this assignment and maybe he was under-committed through over-confidence.
I agree that the stock nature of the story and the characterizations is the movie's biggest baseline problem. If you have complicate the characters or even who is correct about certain things a little it would go along way to making the non-driving sequences closer to the excitement of the races. Pitt's Sonny is always the most clever person and the correct person about strategies and racing ... but does he need to be? You've got 155 minutes here so there is ample time to show a mistake and shift gears into reverse a few times for Sonny to course correct. The story still works if you complicate the character dynamics. F1 can surely claim the titles of "Best Dad Movie of 2025" or "Best Non Ping-Pong Sports Drama of 2025" or "Best At Coasting on Brad Pitt's Charisma and The Craft Team's Skill at Racing Sequences". The "Best Picture Nominee" tag doesn't feel quite as accurate.
Other Split Decisions
Related Oscar Pages
Reader Comments (2)
The movie is a big fine. It’s actually my pick to win sound, which elevate each race. The most memorable part of my viewing experience was turning, full body, in my seat to my aunt and saying at a certain point where it SEEMS like a logical end, and whispering “there is still an entire hour left of this movie.” Unforgivable.
“Best Dad Movie of the Year 2025” is Sisu: Road to Revenge. You could easily nominate it for dad favourite categories of Sound and Visual Effects. And committed acting? Oh yeah! Total action, and NO lines. The hero has no dialogue. Doesn’t need it! The actor draws you right in, and keeps you, and had me sobbing by the end.