Driving Lessons

Driving Lessons

Directed by: Jeremy Brock

Starring: Rupert Grint

Genre: Drama/Comedy/ Independent

Run Time: 98 min.

Release Date: October 2006

On The Web: Official Site

Teaser: Movie Trailer

Reviewed by Byron Merritt

DRIVING LESSONS are tough. Life lessons even more so. Combine the two and you’ve got a whopping big set of obstacles to overcome.

Rupert Grint of HARRY POTTER fame stars as Ben Marshall, a young high schooler who wants to get his driver’s license. Trouble is, though, his excessively over-bearing mother Laura (Laura Linney, THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE) doesn’t give him much help. Her focus is on her stilted relationship with god, her failing marriage to Ben’s dad, Father Marshall (Nicholas Farrell), and her growing intimacy with a handsome new clergyman.

The invasion of the Marshall home by a mentally disturbed Mr. Finchman (Jim Norton, HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS) only adds to Laura Marshall’s demands on young Ben; she asks him to go find a job so they can help give funds to Mr. Finchman and get him back on his feet (even though it becomes glaringly obvious that Mr. Finchman has no idea what is going on around him).

The job Ben finds is with an aging and washed-up actress named “Dame” Evie Walton (Julie Walters (also from the HARRY POTTER film series). What initially seems like physical work for Ben soon turns to a challenge of the heart. Evie and he become close through some outlandish antics the old actress perpetuates upon him; specifically a road trip where Ben comes to terms with his soon-to-be-adult self. Can he stick with his family, including his messed up mother and distant father? Or should he plow his own path with his newfound friend Evie as a guide? Neither option sounds overly appealing but a gathering together of personal nexus points soon make a decision necessary. And Ben’s choice will give viewers a great sigh of relief.

Although Rupert Grint does an okay job as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, seeing him as a lead actor here was a bit tough to swallow. He is, for the most part, rather wooden and not a very animated character actor. By contrast, Laura Linney, Nicholas Farrell, and the estimable Julie Walters swallow up Grint’s lackluster performance and make this film a solid flick. It is Walters specifically whom viewers will eagerly await to see again and again as she steals every scene she’s in. Laura Linney does a great job, too, as a despicable and religious contrarian who spends too little time with her son and too much time on herself. Nicholas Farrell as Father Marshall does a good job too, finding solace away from his argumentative wife by burrowing into birding books ...and away from Ben as well (whom is consistently berated by his mother). The ending scene between Ben and his father is pulled off quite well and is the most powerful young Grint has in the film’s entirety.

But even with these strong performances the story is slow. And since Rupert Grint is the main character and has the most screen time, Driving Lessons often fails to inspire. If it weren’t for the strong supporting cast (especially Julie Walters’ performance), this one most likely would’ve bombed.