‘Drive: The Pretenders’ Review: A Very Predictable Sports Romance

Prime Video has brought so many BookTok stories to life lately. The streaming platform has delivered several book adaptations, from The Summer I Turned Pretty in 2022 to most recently The Love Hypothesis and Every Year After. Now, it has given audiences a new sports romance from Germany — yes, just like Maxton Hall —with Drive: The Pretenders, which premiered October 28. 

Drive was written by Tamara Lush for Wattpad in 2023, and is about a race car mechanic, Savannah Jenkins, who fakes an engagement to the top Formula 1 racer, Dante Annunziata. Why? Because they are both involved in a misunderstood scandal. So, secretly, Jenkins tries to ensure she gets her chance to become a F1 racer also. Will this lie threaten their growing chemistry and everything they have built their lives for? 

This passion-filled racing romantic drama is something that is … way different from other successful BookTok adaptations of this year. Yes, it features the same tropes we all know: close proximity, arranged engagement, no strings attached fake dating, enemies to lovers, etc. While it is a fun watch, its bland delivery hinders it from being as successful of an adaptation or as good of a film or series as we’re used to from Prime BookTok adaptations. 

Drive: The Pretenders, despite what people have been saying on social media,  is very predictable, and this is hurt by the film’s pacing. Everything in the film feels rushed, and it would have worked better as a series. This could have been a great chance to showcase the potential of the plot and the actors’ chemistry in a more meaningful way, rather than in an hour and forty-two minutes. Furthermore, episodes could have helped viewers better understand how the characters’ storylines/developments came about. Thankfully, the soundtrack is a 10/10. Hearing a song by The Weeknd in this movie was very satisfying. 

The main leads, Jenkins (Lisa-Marie Koroll) and Annunziata (Amin Baahmed), have phenomenal chemistry together. Specifically, Baahmed should be cast in more roles that showcase his talent, because his acting was pretty good. The tension and passion between them were what made the movie interesting in the first place. Again, wished that the movie was a series since there could have been more opportunity to delve into this sizzling chemistry. 

To conclude, Drive: The Pretenders is watchable enough for the audience to not be too bored, yet leaves you hoping for more by the end. Too bad this movie seemed to be more like a fever dream than an actual well-done sports romance piece of media.  

Drive: The Pretenders is now streaming on Prime Video.