Cars, cute guys and a creative plot; “Rush” has something for everyone.

The movie follows the 1976 Formula 1 racing season, which is the top and most difficult of all the racing seasons, and the major rivalry between Niki Lauda played by Daniel Brühl and James Hunt played by Chris Hemsworth. James is a womanizing, somewhat smooth ladies’ man. On the other hand, Niki is the focused, calculating rich boy. Both of them have three things in common: cars, arrogance and the determination to beat each other. This drives them (pun intended) to become two of the best racers of the season.

In addition to gripping racing, we also have the back story of both racers. James is exactly what he seems, embracing his family’s disproval and living life like every day is his last. We watch him marry…some…chick. This is where we find a few throw away characters. James’s wife just kind of appears and after a few moments of banter, she and James get married…what a deep connection.

We find a foil in Niki’s wife who stands by him through all his crazy obnoxiousness and odd logic.

There is one point, right after their wedding, where Niki tells his wife that he basically sees her as a weakness that will distract him from his racing. With Niki, however, we see a character arc. He goes from being a stuck up jerk to being….less of a jerk….kind of. He becomes that friend that every time they speak people wonder why you’re friends with them, but you love them.

While the plot tends to veer into the lane (pun still intended) of been-there-done-that, it accomplishes this in a way that works. They may never be buddies starring on a comedy sitcom, but they clearly have respect for each other. This comes around when, spoiler alert, Niki gets into a horrific accident that is directly caused by James. They finally admit to each other that competition makes them better.

So we are left with this simple fact: This movie is a good movie. It provokes emotion without pulling cheap tricks that play the heartstrings. We have real characters that were loyal to the real story and who we can clearly see a change in themselves. All in all this was completely worth seeing at nine thirty at night and getting up, with four hours of sleep, to school the next day.  Not that you have to take my approach to it.