I’ve never been a fan of car movies.

I never felt compelled to see any of the “Fast & Furious” movies — I only saw “Fast & Furious 6” because it was the second movie at the drive-in, and I can’t say I paid a whole lot of attention to it. I never watched “Speed” or “Drive,” and I didn’t like “Cars.” When Paul Walker died in November, I only knew him as the guy from “Eight Below.”

Needless to say, car movies don’t exactly rev my engine. I would never have given “Need for Speed” a second thought if it wasn’t for one thing — Aaron Paul.

Aaron Paul won the hearts of TV fanatics everywhere (myself included) as Jesse Pinkman in “Breaking Bad.” He was responsible for making “Yeah, Mr. White! Yeah, science!” a common exclamation within my friend group. He was the sole reason I was even remotely interested in seeing “Need for Speed,” the latest racing movie based on a video game series.

In “Need for Speed,” Paul plays Tobey Marshall, a racecar driver who owns a garage where he and his friends tune cars to perfection. When Tobey’s rival Dino (Dominic Cooper) challenges Tobey and his friend Pete (Harrison Gilbertson) to a race, Dino taps Pete’s car, causing it to spin out, burst into flames and fall off a bridge with Pete still inside. Dino covers his tracks and Tobey, with the help of blonde British babe Julia (Imogen Poots), sets out to avenge his friend by winning a big, winner-take-all race: the De Leon.

“Need for Speed” is what I assume every movie about high-speed car chases is like — filled with flashy Mustangs, comical sidekicks and cute girls as Tobey speeds cross-country in “the chariot of the Gods,” thwarting state troopers and Dino’s henchmen along the way. The high-speed chases and spinouts triumph over the plot, but isn’t that to be expected from a movie like this?

I’m not going to lie — I came into “Need for Speed” with very low expectations. Despite Paul’s starring role, it is just a car movie, after all. I didn’t think it was going to be anything special (and it wasn’t). But, admittedly, I found “Need for Speed” much more entertaining than I originally assumed it would be.

The outlandish stunts are unfailing throughout the flick. Cars speed through traffic-packed streets, jump over medians and are airlifted by helicopters off of cliffs to escape the police. In one ridiculous scene, Tobey and Julia refuel their Mustang without stopping their high-speed marathon.

Another unlikely highlight of the movie rests with Tobey’s high-flying partner, Benny (Scott Mescudi, aka rapper Kid Cudi). Snarky and quick-witted, Benny, or, as he prefers, “Maverick,” supplies laughs while maneuvering through the air in various planes and helicopters.

But Paul is by far the best thing “Need for Speed” has going for it. He brings spunk, tenacity and nobility to the overdone role of a wronged driver seeking revenge on a super douche.

Everything’s bright and shiny and goes vroom-vroom noisily. “Need for Speed” is car porn at its finest.

I saw the movie with two of my guy friends, who would audibly gasp at the reveal of some of the big, extravagant performance cars and then proceed to talk excitedly after the movie about all of the vehicles, all of which was over my head. (Just nod along, Claudia. Just nod along. “Yeah guys, I totally know what you’re talking about. That one red car was pretty cool, I guess. Yeah.”)

Again, I’ve never been a fan of car movies. But if you ask either of the guys I went to Forum 8 with, they’d tell you enthusiastically that they “effing loved it.”