Framing John Delorean (2019)

“When Bob Zemekis and I first wrote “Back to the Future”, the time machine was a refrigerator, and Bob Zemekis, the director, said, “Wouldn’t it be simpler if Doc actually built the time machine into a car?” And then he says, “And what if he car was a DeLorean?” It wasn’t my idea but I know a damn good idea when I hear one. This was a damn good idea. So I said, yeah that’s great.” – Bob Gale

Number of Times Seen – 1 (18 Feb 2020)

Brief Synopsis – Documentary that tries to find an answer to the question of why John DeLorean, an automobile executive with so much potential had his career ruined by scandal and imprisonment.

My Take on it – As a fan of the Back to the Future films, I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this documentary because as most movie lovers know, there is no DeLorean more famous than the one that travels back in time.

Unfortunately tho, this film is quite bland in what it does and perhaps would have been better if they had presented it as a pure documentary instead of as one with a docu-drama style interspersed throughout.

Alec Baldwin is a great actor but he just doesn’t work here in the scenes where he portrays DeLorean and that actually removes so much of the impact of this story which is quite a shame.

The story itself is actually quite fascinating but they attempt to tell it here in a more unique yet strange way which fails to keep things less interesting and poignant as it should be which is really unfortunate.

Bottom Line – Pretty bland documentary that might have been better as a pure documentary instead of trying to make it also feel like a docu-drama. The use of Baldwin takes so much away from any real impact that this film can have which is quite a shame. The story is actually a fascinating one but this film tries too hard to tell it in a strange way that it never comes across as poignant as it truly should.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – A movie about the founder of the DeLorean. Alec Baldwin will play John DeLorean. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)