Driving Lessons
List Price:
Our Price: $2.44
You Save: $12.55 (84%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.48 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Jordan Young, Julie Walters, Laura Linney, Nicholas Farrell, Rupert GrintBrand: Sony
Cinematographer: David Katznelson
Composer: John Renbourn
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-07-03
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Driving Lessons
DVD 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.
Description of Driving Lessons
Oscar® nominee Laura Linney (Kinsey) stars as Laura Marshall, an overzealous, evangelical Christian do-gooder who fills her home with down-and-out boarders, including a senile, cross-dressing murderous mute. Desperate to expand his horizons, Laura?s shy teenage son Ben (Rupert Grint, of Harry Potter fame) lands a job tending to self-proclaimed "Dame" Evie Walton (Oscar® nominee Julie Walters, Billy Elliot), an over-the-hill actress with the mouth of a drunken sailer and an insatiable lust for life. The battle for Ben?s soul begins as Evie shanghais Ben away from his repressive roots and takes him on an adventure that transforms him from boy to man. A winning entry at the 2006 Moscow International Film Festival, Driving Lessons is an experience Stephen Farber of Movieline calls "a delightful coming-of-age story."More down-to-earth than Auntie Mame, Driving Lessons imparts the same simple, but enduring message?be yourself. In the directorial debut from screenwriter Jeremy Brock (Mrs. Brown), 17-year-old Ben (Harry Potter's Rupert Grint, sluggish yet sympathetic) lives with his vicar father, Robert (Nicholas Farrell), and pious mother, Laura (Laura Linney doing a passable, but inconsistent British accent), in a tree-shaded London suburb. Soft-spoken Ben writes poems and looks forward to passing his driver's test. When his mother encourages him to get a job, he becomes an assistant to retired actress Evie Walton (Billy Elliot's Julie Walters, hunched up to look elderly). He finds her overbearing at first. Still, Evie is preferable to Laura, who may do volunteer work with her husband's parishioners, including bizarre boarder Mr. Fincham (Jim Norton), but also cheats on him with Reverend Peter (Oliver Milburn) and engages her resentful son in the subterfuge. Then Evie tricks Ben into driving her to Edinburgh for a poetry reading, where he learns to assert himself and she learns to put the dramatics on hold?at least for a few minutes. Ben also loses his virginity to a woman he just met, sending a secondary message some parents might not appreciate (the film's sprinklings of profanity earned it a PG-13). Driving Lessons itself seems stranded between coming-of-age story and character study. Ironically, Farrell gives the most convincing performance as Ben's bird-loving father. Engaging if uneven, this parable about hypocrisy and self-expression might have been more interesting if presented from his perspective. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Driving Lessons (click for larger image)
 | 
|  |
 More Films about Coming of Age |  The Films of Julie Walters |  Learn to Drive |
Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
An EducationSony; Release date: 2010-03-30; Published: 2010-03-01; DVD
Best price: $3.76
Price in other shops:
The Boys and Girl From County ClareFirst Look Pictures; Release date: 2005-07-12; DVD
Best price: $3.82
Price in other shops:
The Girl in the CafeHBO Home Video; Release date: 2005-09-06; DVD
Best price: $3.88
Price in other shops:
My Boy JackWarner Brothers; Release date: 2008-04-22; DVD
Best price: $10.22
Price in other shops:
Biography: Harry Potter Kidsby Biography
A and E Home Video; Release date: 2008-12-16; DVD
Best price: $4.61
Price in other shops:
![Cherrybomb ( Cherry bomb ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2.4 Import - United Kingdom ] Image](/images/Cherrybomb-Cherry-bomb-NON-USA-FORMAT-PAL-Reg-2-4-Import-United-Kingdom-B0047EZUN2-X.jpg)
Cherrybomb ( Cherry bomb ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2.4 Import - United Kingdom ]DVD
Best price: $16.99
ThunderpantsWellspring Media INC; Release date: 2007-07-10; DVD
Best price: $2.18
Price in other shops:
December BoysWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-12-11; DVD
Best price: $2.82
Price in other shops:
Ballet ShoesKoch International; Release date: 2008-09-02; DVD
Best price: $4.48
Price in other shops:
Wild TargetFOX; Release date: 2011-02-08; DVD
Best price: $7.24
Price in other shops: