There's been a hell of a lot of buzz surrounding this film. It's often described as being 'cool', which can normally go one of two ways: the buzz is right and it is a really good film ('cool' even); or it's a film that tries too hard to be 'cool' and tricks all those who struggle to think for themselves into believing they should really like it. Sadly Drive veers dangerously out of control into the latter.

There's a clue as to what the main protagonist is good at in this film by the moniker given to him: driver (Ryan Gosling). So much so that he's a stunt driver for films. But that's only part-time. Maybe it doesn't pay enough, or maybe it's not that big a thrill, because he also acts as a top-notch getaway driver for hire.

Going home one day, after a hard day of driving, he bumps into his neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan) – not in the car, that would be dangerous – and her young son Benicio (Kaden Leos). Although they don't say much, the pair seem to hit it off.

When he isn't driving cars, he's fixing them in a local garage, run by a guy called Shannon ( Bryan Cranston from Breaking bad ). Shannon gets an idea that as his mechanic is so good at driving, they should buy a stock car that he could race and make them both a lot of cash. But Shannon (nor the driver, so it seems) has that kind of cash, so Shannon asks to borrow money from mobster Bernie (Albert Brooks).

So everything seems to be falling into place for the young driver. A spanner is thrown into the works however in the shape of Irene's husband Standard (Oscar) being released from prison. He's not out long before he's contacted about some protection money that he owes from his time in the clink; what's worse is that they've decided that there's now a huge amount of interest to be paid on this debt, which Standard clearly doesn't have.

His only way of paying the money back, is to get involved in a job: to rob from a local pawn shop. But he can't do it alone, and because he gets on 'well' with his wife and kid, the driver decides to help him out. But by letting his heart rule his head, he soon finds himself travelling down a road he can't do a u-turn on.

Hold the stare, hold the stare... I wonder if I'll have chicken tonight? Chicken it is! ...and the stare is still there!

Right from the off you get the sneaky feeling that Danish born director Nicolas Winding Refn paying his own personal homage to the eighties with this film – stylistically at least. The hand drawn titles in shocking pink, along with the electronic Vangelis tribute band that supplies the soundtrack throughout, give the film a striking sense of period.

Perhaps these things are relied on a little too much however, as the script seems to suffer badly from it. It doesn't help that the film's protagonist is monosyllabic at best for the majority of the film. Refn enjoys having his male lead communicate with dry smiles and curious looks rather than dialogue. That kind of thing works well for The Artist, but is just a tad pretentious here. Someone like James Dean or Steve McQueen could pull that kind of moody chic off, but sadly it just makes Gosling look a bit simple.

It's obvious that even besides not giving his main character a proper name, that Refn sees Gosling's character as being a throwback to Sergio Leone's 'The Man with no Name' trilogy. But neither Gosling nor his nameless character are quite in the same league. In Gosling's defence, the poorly structured story doesn't do him any favours. The only thing with any real momentum about this film is its title.

On the positive side, the film is at its best when it's most silent. Refn uses music to good effect, but silence even better during key scenes. Not bad for someone who directed an episode of Miss Marple (an indication that he might not be as 'cool' as he'd like everyone to think he is).

The film won't do Gosling any harm either, mostly down to his recent excellent turns in Blue Valentine, The Ides of March and Crazy, Stupid, Love.

The notion of casting Albert Brooks as a gangster is not only an interesting one, but one that pays huge dividends. The film would have certainly benefitted from having more of him in it.

Refn is clearly talented, but there's a pretention in his work here that takes the shine of an otherwise interesting project; it has the beauty of a supermodel, but feels just as empty-headed.

Although the film takes us on an interesting journey, the route it takes is fairly middle of the road stuff.