Cert 12A
132 mins
BBFC advice: Contains dangerous driving, infrequent moderate bad language
What's going on? On Friday night I saw Aaron Paul and Imogen Poots threatening to jump off a building and by Sunday they are zipping across America in a fast car.
I know that, by coincidence, different movies in which actors star can be released close together.
For example, I watched Kate Winslet in Labor Day less than a week before I saw her again in Divergent.
But I have never seen two lead actors appear together twice in the space of a weekend.
In Scott Waugh's movie Paul and Poots join forces against a bully-boy businessman, Dino Brewster, (Dominic Cooper) whose lies have resulted in Paul's character, Tobey Marshall, serving a stint in jail.
The plot, as the film's title suggests, surrounds high-speed car racing at which both both Brewster and Marshall excel.
The complication is that Brewster has risen in the professional ranks and is dripping in wealth while Marshall still runs his dad's garage and ekes out a living, occasionally boosting his income with illegal street races.
The most famous of these is run by a rich recluse (Michael Keaton) who runs an internet radio show whipping up a frenzy for an invitation-only winner-takes-all contest.
Need For Speed's famous cast are rather wasted because acting takes a back seat in a movie totally dominated by chase and race sequences.
And to be fair, the stunt choreographers and drivers do a cracking job with some spectacular scenes.
However, while appreciating that there will be a decent number of movie fans who only require an action diet, I need a bit more to feast on.
But here, Paul, Poots and Cooper fulfill stereotypes while Keaton's character is just bizarre.
Laughs: none
Jumps: one
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 5.5/10