'Baby Driver' brightens moods, restores faith in popcorn flicks

As much as I enjoyed watching Baby Driver, the new heist film meets romance from director Edgar Wright, I've been even more delighted by its commercial success. Here is a great piece of pop entertainment, which doesn't condescend to its audience or underestimate it. It takes some risks -- it may be even a tad too cute for some -- and it manages to revitalize a genre -- the crime movie -- which has been overshadowed in recent years by a plethora of superhero films.

This just goes to show you that audiences will still turn out for a relatively old-fashioned action film if you deliver genuine thrills, likable performances and dialogue that is lively and engaging.

I would not call myself a Wright fanatic, for instance, I was not as taken with his Scott Pilgrim v. The World as many fanboys were, but this one feels like the culmination of all his previous work. It's probably his most accessible, and its already showing real staying power at the box office, which is rare during the summer months, when each new weekend crowns a new behemoth blockbuster.

I saw this movie during a particularly trying week. I wanted to like it, but was also prepared to be disappointed. But really from the opening frames, I was taken by the movie's audacity.

It dares to be self consciously clever and it owns the absurdity of its soundtrack-heavy syncopation and even makes it a compelling plot point. The film also makes great use out of its eclectic cast. Ansel Elgort makes a charming leading man, but he is aided tremendously by dryly funny Kevin Spacey, an unpredictably scuzzy Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx, who once again proves (as he did in Django Unchained) that he can be terrific when he gets a great role.

And while Wright's whole aesthetic can be reduced to homage -- there is plenty here for fans of other car-centric thrillers like The Driver to appreciate -- the film still manages to feel oddly personal, maybe because there is a very earnest love story at the center of it, or perhaps because it doesn't try to be too brooding. It's not concerned with being cool, it's more interested in being fun.

Besides its killer soundtrack, the movie has some seriously great, stylized action set pieces, and every time you think the movie is headed in one particular direction, it throws you a little bit of a curveball, which I really appreciated.

It's obviously a crazy time in the world right now, so much so that ultimately unimportant escapist fare like this can seem inconsequential, but its an interesting time at the movies -- some really original, exciting work has snuck into what looked like a very boring summer season.

It lifted my spirits, even if just for a couple hours, and I bet it'll put a smile on your face too.