I like Adam Driver a lot, and I thought he was quite good. I was a bit distracted by an very tall, broad-shouldered 40 year-old playing a famously short 60 year-old. Driver literally ducks through doorways in this movie - couldn't they have pulled some Lord Of The Rings tricks and build oversized doorways like when Gandalf visits Bag End? I hope Ferrari wins Best Makeup because Driver's Silver Fox haircut looked perfect. I've never seen a dye job so authentic-looking, I can only assume it's a wig?
I wanted to like Penélope Cruz as Mrs. Ferrari, but besides chewing scenery, most of her performance seemed to consist of not brushing her hair or wearing any makeup. It doesn't help her performance that she's tasked with the age-old "powerful woman discovers she's been wronged" role.
The other half is about his efforts to save his bankrupt automotive business by entering the Mille Miglia race. The racing scenes are strong. Ferrari's lecture to his drivers on the fortitude and fearlessness required to win will surely be Driver's Oscars clip. A warning - Mann punishes our enjoyment of auto racing by showing us in explicit, gruesome, shocking detail, the results of two racing accidents in the era before safety was taken seriously. I've never seen anything like it. The first time I was so taken aback I said "O God!" out loud before literally clapping my hand to my mouth. (at the Millerton MovieHouse, while the rest of the family saw Wonka)