Brad Pitt’s New Movie Is a Hit with Critics, Rotten Tomatoes Score Revealed
Brad Pitt is back on the big screen in F1: The Movie, and critics are loving what they see. The film, directed by Joseph Kosinski, is set in the high-speed world of Formula One racing and is already being called one of the top movies of 2025.
It had its world premiere on June 16 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and will hit theaters across the U.S. on June 27, just in time for the Austrian Grand Prix.
The story follows Sonny Hayes, played by Brad Pitt, a former Formula One driver from the 1990s who’s been out of the game after a bad crash. He now works as a cab driver and races on the side.
Things change when his old friend Ruben, who owns the APXGP team, asks him to return to the F1 world to help guide a young rookie, Joshua “Noah” Pearce, played by Damson Idris. Hayes joins the team as both a mentor and a teammate to Pearce, and that’s where the real action begins.
The cast also includes Kerry Condon as the team’s technical director, Tobias Menzies as a board member trying to take control of the team, and Javier Bardem as Ruben, Hayes’ longtime friend and team owner.
Other actors like Kim Bodnia, Sarah Niles, and Shea Whigham round out the team, while Formula One stars like Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and Lando Norris appear as themselves. Even Lewis Hamilton’s dog Roscoe shows up briefly.
The movie was made with help from the FIA and the real Formula One teams, which adds a layer of authenticity to the racing scenes. Every team and driver from the 2023 F1 season appears, along with top F1 names like Toto Wolff, Christian Horner, and Zak Brown. Sky Sports commentators Martin Brundle and David Croft also provide voiceovers during the races, giving it that true-to-life F1 feel.
So far, F1: The Movie is scoring big with critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 89% of 89 reviews are positive, and the movie currently holds an 88% approval rate on the site. Their critics’ consensus says, “Driven by Brad Pitt’s laidback magnetism and sporting a souped-up engine courtesy of Joseph Kosinski’s kinetic direction, F1 The Movie brings vintage cool across the finish line.” On Metacritic, the film has a score of 70 out of 100, showing that most critics gave it favorable reviews.
…the strength of F1 lies not in its dramatic arc…but in the racing scenes. [Full review in Spanish]
Néstor Burtone
F1 is a directing masterclass by Joseph Kosinski. If you loved Top Gun Maverick’s kinetic pacing and fluid style, you’ll love this film. Strong sound design, cinematography, score, and performances all around create one of the best films of 2025.
Sheraz Farooqi
EVERYTHING you want from a summer blockbuster. Impactful, Inspiring, & Intense. Truly one of the best movies of the year that will keep you on edge cheering & possibly have your jaw on the floor with what Kosinski does as a director
Zach Pope Zach Pope Reviews
Kosinski delivers a solid entry for 2025’s summer session: a slick, glossy blockbuster that’s a feast for the senses and easy on the brain.
Kent M. Wilhelm
F1 The Movie, is a breathtaking spectacle made to be seen on the biggest and best-quality screen in existence. [Full review in Spanish]
Alejandro Alemán
There are a few critics who weren’t as impressed. BBC’s Nicholas Barber gave it just two stars, calling it a “non-starter.” Still, the overall buzz is strong, with many praising the movie for its visuals, fast-paced racing scenes, and sound design.
Following a dramatic and expertly executed crash sequence, the movie loses its grip. It veers off course into a montage that speeds past where most of the character development might’ve taken place.
Maxwell Rabb
Visually, it’s undeniably impressive. But strip away the carbon fibre, and what remains is a movie filled with clichés, weak character arcs, and a script that strains to be inspirational while instead delivering a lot of empty noise.
Doug Jamieson
An incredibly sterile film about virility. It’s so manly it can barely perform.
William Bibbiani
Had “F1” been a tight 90 minutes, perhaps a lot of its more glaring writing flaws could be forgiven, or at least ignored.
Witney Seibold
There’s an unashamedly “enthusiastic” cross-promotional quality to the film, like a two-and-a-half-hour Formula 1 commercial, that never quite gels with its hoary central story.
Kevin Maher
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