Driving Lessons There are a whole bunch of Reviews here; not much else to write, except that the movie is marvelous and that Ben finally learns how to . . .
Buy the DVD!
K. Distler 5-16-o8
May 17, 2008 |  | A subtle, engaging film for rainy afternoons. |  |
"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.
April 20, 2008Learning to do anything is difficult, particularly if your Mom is your teacher. In this case, Ben (Grint) has a serious problem because his Mom (Linney) mostly wants him to take her over to see her new boyfriend. The only break this poor kid gets is when aging actress, Evie (Walters) hires him as a general helper.
I love British comedy and got this movie thinking it was more of the same, but there's a lot of bitter reality served up with the laughs. Grint does a good job growing up and getting away from his Ron Weasley role in this coming of age film. Ms. Walters is amazing as always as Evie--and she does her own coming of second age in this drama. "Driving Lessons" is an interesting drama is just not as much escape humor as I would have hoped for.
March 10, 2008| | | You're never too old for driving lessons | |
Rupert Grint has really grown into a good actor. He has proven he can be more than just Ron Weasley. I look forward to seeing him in more films. I hope he continues to choose roles in films that are are as well written and directed as this film.
March 5, 2008 | | So what is the point besides bashing Christians? | |
First of all, I can handle movies that show negative side to a religious spirit, and the need of being more human and free in a case you are not. The idea of this movie kinda starts off like this, but to be quite honest, it bored me terrebly for few reasons. The young man has a mother who is always a bit too worried for him. She seems not to like her husband very much who is the pastor in their church. Okay, I can handle that, but I'm not sure about watching the movie for an hour and still waiting for it to take off. So the boy meets this old actrees lady who curses a lot, talks loud in public, she takes him far away from home and doesn't let him contact his family to let them know he's okay. Is that the kind of lesson she was teaching him? I don't care how annoying the mother might be, letting parents know where their children are is not just a Christian thing, at least I would assume it's not... Anyway, after they end up in some hotel the boy sleeps with some girl and so the story goes on to him trying out alchohol and dance clubs... Honestly, I don't mind none of that, but you gotta be kidding me if that's the kind of lessons the lady was trying to teach him. The movie goes on with his mother being hit by a car as if this whole time the audience just waited for that to happen. No, not really, even though the mother was kind of annoying, she seemed to me like yet another human being who is not perfect... If his mother is christian, that doesn't mean she cannot have her own mistakes or worry too much for her kid, or have problems with her husband. I wasn't sure what the religion had to do with any of the things that the movie put this boy through... Taste of sin? I don't think now days it's that hard to taste sin... To make an extremely boring movie about it with passion of bashing christian families seems like a thing for loosers who don't have a life. Even though I come from a christian family, and have a lot of friends who are christians, a behavior characterized by the boy's parents is strange news to me personally. A rather naive and empty idea. There are hundreds of happy families and not so happy regardless of which religion or phelosophy. Why do people praise this movie so much? Not sure, but watch it I guess for yourself to have your own opinnion. Peace.
February 28, 2008More reviews at Amazon.com ...
Daily Birthdays
