Ford v Ferrari
Twentieth Century Fox | Release Date: November 15, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 47 Critic Reviews
Positive:
42
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNov 15, 2019
The movie is an old-fashioned rouser with a lot of new-fashioned virtuosity. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternNov 14, 2019
It’s a new and emotionally complex model of an old-fashioned audience-pleaser, with wonderful performances by Christian Bale and Matt Damon and a resonant soul to go with its smarts. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNov 14, 2019
A barnburner of a motion picture that mainlines heart-in-mouth excitement and tug-at-the-heart emotion, Ford v Ferrari is made the way Hollywood used to make them, a glorious throwback that combines a smart modern sensibility with the best of traditional storytelling. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 12, 2019
Ultimately, Ford v Ferrari is about art versus commerce, devotion versus cynicism, and inspiration versus deadness. It’s one of the year’s great films, and of all the great films so far, the most accessible. Read full review
100
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 7, 2019
It stands with the greatest racing movies ever, and it’s certainly the most entertaining. But there is no doubt about one last superlative. Ford v Ferrari is one of the best pictures of the year. Read full review
100
TheWrapSasha StoneSep 4, 2019
The chemistry between Bale and Damon is what makes the movie move the way it does, along with the script. Bale alone in the race car figuring out how to win and survive is where the film really sings. Read full review
92
PolygonKaren HanNov 19, 2019
Shelby and Miles’ story is compelling, but Mangold digs deeper to find the motor that propels Ford v Ferrari across the finish line. Read full review
91
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodAug 30, 2019
Ford v Ferrari is the sort of cinematic entertainment that sucks you in and won’t let you go until you cross the finish line. Read full review
90
Film ThreatAlan NgJan 15, 2020
You’re going to watch Ford v Ferrari for the action, underdog story, and more-than-competent cast. Mangold also has the tone and pace of the film down perfectly. I would watch Ford v Ferrari over and over again. Read full review
90
SlateSam AdamsNov 16, 2019
The movie works on you cumulatively, wearing down the impulse to roll your eyes at its familiar parts and leaving you to appreciate how snugly they fit together, and the way the whole thing purrs. Read full review
90
TimeStephanie ZacharekNov 15, 2019
Ford v Ferrari is a little too long; some scenes leave unnecessary skidmark trails. But the movie still has amiable style and energy to spare. It’s fast but never furious. Read full review
90
The New YorkerAnthony LaneNov 11, 2019
Bale is a cussed and calculating actor, yet he’s never been more likable than he is here — an irony to relish, since the character he plays makes so little effort to be liked. Read full review
90
UproxxMike RyanNov 7, 2019
Ford v Ferrari is almost as much about having to navigate having multiple bosses at a large corporation as it is winning a car race. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyAug 30, 2019
The film’s lively dynamics owe much to the bristly nature of nearly every relationship and interaction in the film. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldNov 14, 2019
Whether you care about motorsports or not, Ford v Ferrari is a kick: both a rollicking true story well told, and a moving depiction of male friendship. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 14, 2019
Extremely enjoyable true-life drama featuring some of our most deft actors having the time of their lives. Read full review
88
The Associated PressMark KennedyNov 14, 2019
This infectious and engrossing story of the 1966 showdown on a French racetrack between car giants Ford and Ferrari is a high-octane ride that will make you instinctively stomp on a ghostly gas pedal from your movie seat. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 13, 2019
Ford v. Ferrari expertly captures the essence of mid-20th century racing, and the spirit of the men who went to battle in Le Mans. Read full review
88
USA TodayBrian TruittNov 11, 2019
While there are plenty of obstacles and things going vroom, the two reasons "Ford" works so very well are named Damon and Bale: They're endlessly entertaining as loyal dudes who work out their differences through brotherly roughhousing. Read full review
83
Original-CinJim SlotekNov 14, 2019
It’s on the track where it finds traction. The events of the various races, reflected on the faces of characters whose lives revolve around the outcome, tell a story all by themselves. Read full review
83
The Film StageChristopher SchobertSep 11, 2019
Ford v Ferrari is an easy film to scoff at; there is nothing new here, and there is no debating that fact. Instead, we have a compelling story told in simple, intelligent fashion. It deserves a spot on the list of great racing dramas, and the list of the year’s most entertaining dramas. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattSep 4, 2019
It’s a movie so well put together as a hero’s tale that it moves along almost too smoothly; the script by brothers Jez and John Henry Butterworth hits its marks of tragedy and triumph with a kind of shiny, measured inevitability. Read full review
80
The AtlanticDavid SimsNov 16, 2019
With its precise production design and rumbling racing scenes, Ford v Ferrari is as sleek and visually alluring as the vintage vehicles it showcases—but beneath its shiny hood is an engine with real complexity. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeNov 16, 2019
Slick, thrilling and saturated with vivid hues and 60s can-do optimism, Le Mans ’66, James Mangold’s follow-up to Logan, is a precision-tooled machine of a movie. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottNov 14, 2019
Ford v Ferrari is no masterpiece, but it is — to invoke a currently simmering debate — real cinema, the kind of solid, satisfying, nonpandering movie that can seem endangered nowadays. Read full review
80
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 13, 2019
Luckily, Mangold fuels his true-life plot with enough flesh-and-blood action to leave you dizzy. Read full review
80
EmpireNick de SemlyenNov 11, 2019
Even if you’re not a motorhead, chances are you’ll be thrilled by this high-velocity bromance, powered by zesty acting and Mangold’s meticulous direction. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisNov 13, 2019
It’s the rare movie that doesn’t trivialize a platonic male relationship with buddy film tropes. Read full review
75
Washington PostKristen Page-KirbyNov 15, 2019
A fun, engaging story that’s more about obsessive drive than actual driving. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 15, 2019
This is solid, middle-of-the-road entertainment. Slow patches aside, it finishes strong and, although it probably won’t win the box office race, it may generate some Oscar interest (because Bale is almost always good enough to warrant that sort of attention). Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyNov 14, 2019
Damon is superb in the kind of role he excels at: a man of integrity who gets steered off the path and is subsequently righted. Lest all of this sound heavy, I should assure you that Ford v Ferrari is exactly as fun, maybe even more fun, than its well-put-together trailer makes it out to be. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerNov 13, 2019
Setting aside more particular genre trappings, Mangold re-engineers one of his unfussy studio throwbacks into a supersized Dad Movie event. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 13, 2019
Ford v Ferrari works as a stylish, enjoyable mash note to its era, and the need for speed and all that. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnAug 30, 2019
Damon and Bale are such magnetic onscreen figures that it doesn’t take much to inject their various arguments, smarmy asides, and high-stakes bets with plenty of intrigue. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredLuke ParkerNov 22, 2019
Any misgivings bestowed upon Ford V Ferrari by the script are, more or less, eliminated by the film’s big draw: the racing. Gloriously calibrated, simply designed, and modestly edited, audiences are reminded of the dynamite, nearly natural relationship automobiles share with filmmaking. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghNov 13, 2019
It’s behind the wheel with Miles that Ford v Ferrari becomes a well-oiled entertainment machine, a thrill ride with a driver’s-eye view of the world’s most exciting track. Everything that doesn’t work is just a distant speck in the rearview mirror. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeAug 30, 2019
Watching Bale and Damon channel those two speed freaks in all of their surly, testosterone-spitting glory is a reminder of how much fun it was to watch Bale play a similar character opposite Mark Wahlberg in “The Fighter.” Read full review
67
ConsequenceJoe LipsettSep 26, 2019
Ford v Ferrari is a classic Hollywood underdog film about friendship and overcoming obstacles. Mangold’s direction is serviceable, but unspectacular, while Bale is a dynamic presence. Read full review
63
New York PostSara StewartNov 14, 2019
If only director James Mangold had taken the route the Wachowskis did with “Speed Racer,” which had psychedelic colors to spice things up. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 12, 2019
Ford v Ferrari’s narrative and emotional beats feel assembled in a factory-floor kind of way. The characters are stock, the story’s ups and downs are easily telegraphed, and the inoffensive but not particularly inventive dialogue is spat up as if the actors were eager to move onto the next thing. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineJake ColeSep 11, 2019
At a time when the nation continues to weigh the fate of its auto industry, James Mangold’s depiction of the Ford Motor Company facing its first major financial threat transparently plays to nostalgic reveries of the industry’s golden age. Read full review
62
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpNov 25, 2019
It is intermittently a blast, particularly when Bale and Damon ham it up with each other, trading jabs and one-liners, and having childish slap fights in broad daylight as Miles’ saintly, patient wife Mollie (Caitriona Balfe) quietly observes. But when it isn’t a blast, Ford v Ferrari is politically muddled to the point of distraction. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfSep 14, 2019
Damon and Bale are unfailingly enjoyable company to be among, steering the psychology away from alpha-male dominance to something more complex and occasionally mystical. Read full review
60
IGNChris TillySep 12, 2019
Ford v Ferrari is well acted and shot, but the story doesn’t engage, making James Mangold’s latest effort something of a slog. Read full review
60
Total FilmMatt MaytumSep 12, 2019
Two immensely enjoyable central performances and some of the best race sequences yet filmed fuel an otherwise standard sports movie. Read full review
50
TheWrapCandice FrederickNov 13, 2019
Though it’s bolstered primarily by the charisma of Bale and Damon’s performances, the soulless yet thrilling Ford v Ferrari doesn’t provide much more than huffy banter, corporate rivalry, and an adrenaline rush. The real-life characters deserve more than that. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 10, 2019
It is crammed with unearned emotional moments and factory-built male characters whose dedication to their sport we are expected to find adorable and heroic by turns. Read full review
More From This Movie

81 Critic Reviews

8.3 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 84 Are You There God? It's Me,...
2 78 John Wick: Chapter 4
3 75 Polite Society
4 73 Air
5 72 Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among...
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL