Driving Lessons
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Movie Reviews of Driving Lessons
Movie Review: Rupert Grint and Julie Waters find something else to do together besides "Harry Potter"
Summary: 4 Stars
Like many I checked out "Driving Lessons" because it has Rupert Grint doing something other than Ron Weasley in a "Harry Potter" movie. I was researching to see what else the trio of young stars of those movies had done and discovered that Emma Watson has yet to do anything else while Daniel Radcliffe, who first came to our attention in a BBC production of "David Copperfield," has been performing "Equus" on stage, opposite Richard Griffiths, who plays Uncle Vernon in the "Harry Potter" movies. Here we have Grint playing opposite Julie Walters, who plays Ron Weasley's mum and who now has quite a different role to play in this film by first time director Jeremy Brock, who wrote the screenplays for "Mrs. Brown" and "The Last King of Scotland." Clearly it was the script that attracted not only Grint and Watlers, but Laura Linney as well, when certainly suggests that it is well worth checking out.
Grint plays Ben Marshall, whose only two concerns are getting his driver's license and impressing a girl that he likes. However, his idea of coming to an emergency stop is to drive up on a lawn and run the car into something, which is nothing compared to the disaster that awaits when Ben summons up the courage to read aloud to the girl a poem he has written and she dismisses him as being "weird." Ben's mother Laura (Linney) insists she will teach him to drive, but clearly she does not want him to succeed. What she wants is for him to play a eucalyptus tree in a church pageant, a telling metaphor for their trouble relationship. Ben is hired by Evie Walton (Walters) to do odd jobs around her house and the older woman turns out to be an eccentric actress. Predictably enough, Ben and Evie are the best things that have happened to each other in a long time. He needs more than just the opportunity to learn how to drive a car, and both directly and indirectly Evie is able to help him with his education in many key regards. She needs more than just an audience and Ben provides support in a whole bunch of key ways.
An obvious goal here is for Grint to carry off a role other than Ron Wesley and Grint easily accomplishes this with an understated earnestness that works well for the character of Ben. One thing I especially liked about his performance is that when Ben apologizes (which he has several opportunities to do), you actually believe the kid, and he does a nice job reciting Shakespeare too. Of course, given how messed up his parents are you have to wonder how he turned out to be such a fundamentally good kid. Meanwhile, Walters manages to keep Evie grounded when ample opportunities exist for her to go way over the top and run away with the film (in a bad way). Linney is playing the villain in the story, usually with a smile plastered on her face and only her eyes betraying what is really going on in her warped little mind. Also worth mentioning is Michelle Duncan as Bryony, the young girl who not only would like to hear Ben's poetry, but who also wants to get to the intended payoff of the private poetry reading as well.
"Driving Lessons" is one of those movies whose elements will remind you of other films. The relationship between Ben and Evie recalls clearly "Harold and Maude," albeit without the sexual element. The relationship between Ben and his father (Nicholas Farrell) recalls "Ordinary People" and Walters is playing the latest in a long series of eccentric English actresses (insert your favorite example here). However, for me the problematic element of this film is in trying to decide what position it is taking on Christianity. Cleary Laura's hypocrisy is a target, but the same can be said for the ineffectualness of Ben's father as a rather boring vicar. But when Laura gets her comeuppance it seems to me that the congregation comes under ridicule as well. The music Brock selected for the soundtrack covers both sides as well, with covers of Woody Guthrie's "Jesus Christ" as well as the traditional "God Don't Never Change." I cannot decide if Brock is making a particular point, simply obscuring his tracks, or trying to have it both ways. Final Warning: The film is rated PG-13 because Ben lets loose with a couple of bits of profanity at the end and has a bedroom scene earlier on, so younger viewers picking up this movie because Grint and Walters are in it could be surprised and not in a pleasant may with the more mature elements.
Movie Review: A Modern Day Reflection of 'Harold and Maude'
Summary: 4 Stars
DRIVING LESSONS is a little film that sneaks up on you. What at first seems to be a bit of fluffy nonsense comedy British style is at its base a very fine story about coming of age and the needs for significant friendship of both the young and the elderly. Writer Jeremy Brock ('Mrs. Brown', 'Charlotte Gray', 'The Last King of Scotland') here directs his own screenplay and the result is a cohesive, progressively involving tale filled with fascinating and diverse characters, each performed by sterling actors.
Ben Marshall (Rupert Grint, standing firmly on his own as a developing actor post 'Harry Potter' series) is a quiet, plain little poetic seventeen-year-old living with his bird watching Vicar father (Nicholas Farrell) and his obsessive compulsive, rigid, evangelical do-gooder mother (Laura Linney) in a home where 'needy people', such as the murderous cross-dressing Mr. Fincham (Jim Norton), take precedence over family matters: the mother is by the way having an affair with priest Peter (Oliver Milburn), using Ben as her cover!
Sad Ben is among other things attempting to learn to drive a car. His mother is a poor teacher and decides he needs professional lessons AND needs to get a job to help pay for poor Mr. Fincham's needs. Ben follows an ad and meets Dame Eve Walton (Julie Walters), an elderly has-been actress who is as zany as any character ever created. She hires Ben and the fireworks begin. Through a series of incidents, including a camping trip Evie demands they take, the two learn life's lessons missing from each other's natures: Ben learns self respect and self confidence and Evie finds a true friend who will allow her to drop her stagy facade and be the dear human being she has been hiding.
Julie Walters, always offering the finest skills of acting in every character she creates, finds a role like no other here: she is outlandishly wild and lovable. Rupert Grint is exactly the right choice for the challenged coming of age Ben. The chemistry between the two is as tender as that in the classic film 'Harold and Maude'. Laura Linney is as always a superb actress playing a role quite different from her usual repertoire. And the supporting cast is a panorama of fine characterizations. This film is a delightful surprise and one sure to warm the heart and entertain those who love fine writing and direction and acting - and message! Grady Harp, July 07
Movie Review: A Good Film That's At Times Touching And Humorous
Summary: 4 Stars
DRIVING LESSONS is an endearing British film about the young Ben Marshall (Harry Potter's Rupert Grint), an overly awkward and shy seventeen year old who lives in a less than ideal home situation. Ben's father is the local parish vicar (Richard Marshall), a well meaning but somewhat defeated man, and his mother Laura (Laura Linney) either has to be in control of everything and when she's not controlling everything, she's a religious fanatic. Laura decides that the family will take in a homeless old man who accidentally killed his wife (driving over her) and it's suggested to Ben that he get a job so he can earn some money to contribute to the new house guest's wellbeing. Ben does in fact get a job, assisting a once great actress Dame Eve Walton (Julie Walters), who is remembered more for her role in a soap opera than her great theatrical triumphs. The eccentric "Evie" seems to be exactly what the young Ben needs. She doesn't so much instill a sense of confidence in him as she exposes him to a new world: one that is full of possibilities, free of judgment, and a world waiting to be explored. This occurs during an unplanned trip to Edinburgh, at least unplanned by Ben, and he learns to dive en route, hence the film's title DRIVING LESSONS.
I'll admit, when I first watched, DRIVING LESSONS it did not appear to be all that original, and if anything a bit cliché. It has some moments where the film is a bit improbable and a few scenes could have been deleted or tweaked a bit to make a stronger story. The characters started out more as caricatures than actual people. Ben seemed almost too fearful and withdrawn, Laura Marshall a bit too fanatical, and Evie a bit too eccentric. You almost think "I've seen this before in other films," yet as the film progresses, the story gets stronger and the characters, especially Ben and Evie grow on the viewer, the characters become individuals, a bond develops between the viewers and characters, and we care how the film will conclude.
Overall in spite of its flaws, it is an enjoyable film with some rather humorous moments and worth watching.
Movie Review: Better with the Coreys
Summary: 4 Stars
I found it mysterious that they even call the movie DRIVING LESSONS, implying that young Rupert Grint's mission in life is to get his drivers license, and then they just sort of forget about his quest, so that by the end of the movie, you see him walking up a big hill and we argued about whether or not that means he failed in life or he succeeded? Did he discover that driving isn't so great? Or had he transcended his desires and was on to something new, courtesy of Dame Evey Walton (played by the irrepressible Julie Walters just as if Rosalind Russell had never essayed the part years ago, in AUNTIE MAME, and just as if elderly Ruth Gordon had never fallen in love with young Bud Cort years ago, in HAROLD AND MAUDE).
They should box up all of Julie Walters' scenes and use them to show young actors what unbridled scene-stealing is all about. Did she ever figure out it her character, Dame Evey Walton, is actually a dame or not, actually mad or not, actually dying or not, actually talented or not? Perhaps the screenplay and director dictated a fatal indecision about all these questions, in the name of keeping us guessing, but Walters' performance suffers because she doesn't have a bottom line, just a vicious need to surprise and outglow her competition. I used to think that Lily Tomlin singing with the black gospel choir in NASHVILLE was the last word in racialized exoticism, but Julie Walters makes Lily Tomlin seem like Mahalia Jackson.
As for Laura Linney's accent, it's pretty wild! Again, people used to laugh at Dick Van Dyke acting English in MARY POPPINS but she's got him beat, plus she's evil. English Christians are probably launching a blooming fatwa on Laura Linney as we speak. Sign me up, English Christians, Laura Linney is making you seem uptight, selfish, adulterous and ludicrous all in one go.
Movie Review: A subtle, engaging film for rainy afternoons.
Summary: 4 Stars
"Driving Lessons", Rupert Grint's first important movie since "Harry Potter" is a throughly enjoyable effort. It tells a story of Ben, a 17-year old Jesus-obsessed high schooler, hired to take care of a second-rate ex-actress Evie (Julie Walters). Evie is very free-spirited, and after the initial shock (and a life-altering road trip), Ben starts questioning his values, upbringing and desires, much to the dislike of his controlling mother (Laura Liney).
The themes and the plot are masterfully thought-out, and although this movie could easily be tagged as "coming-of-age" or "disrespectful-of-Christianity", it never really falls into cliches of these categories. The very subtle execution and fantastic performances promise to make it watchable and easy to relate to. Grint is amazing as Ben, boldly venturing into much more mature material than his previous efforts, and Julie Walters is hilarious as Ben's confidante and roll model. Although there are plenty of laughs, the movie is essentially a drama, handling the conflicts these characters deal with in a very serious manner. A highly entertaining and engaging film about seizing the day and making your own choices.