Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this coming-of-age story (which stars Rupert Grint, of Harry Potter fame) focuses largely on sexual awakening and insecurities. This involves the 17-year-old hero's mooning over a classmate, fretting over his mother's adulterous affair, and learning about the sexual interests of his employer, a retired actress. He ultimately loses his virginity to a college student (brief skin is visible). Several references (visual and verbal) to hitting women with cars. Some drinking and salty language, especially from Evie (a couple of "f--k"s, plus other profanity).
Families can discuss Evie and Ben's friendship. How is it unconventional, and what does he learn from her? How does she encourage him to rebel against his mother, and how does the movie make this seem like a "good" choice? Is Ben's father an unappealing role model? Why? Would it be possible for Ben and his mother to have a sincere discussion about his expanding interests (in art and literature, for instance), or is she too self-centered to understand him?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
Early in DRIVING LESSONS, 17-year-old Ben (Rupert Grint) decides that he must declare his independence. He has good reason to want distance himself from his family: His demoralized father (Nicholas Farrell), a vicar at the local church, goes along with whatever his self-righteous wife, Laura (Laura Linney), wants. When Laura starts giving Ben driving lessons -- her voice shrill and her motives ulterior (she has him park outside her curate lover's home while she cavorts within) -- Ben reaches a breaking point. Sort of.
Ben is egged on by his new employer, retired stage actress Evie Walton (Julie Walters, who plays Mrs. Weasley to Grint's Ron in the Harry Potter franchise). Reportedly based on writer-director Jeremy Brock's own experiences working for Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Driving Lessons goes on to make terrible fun of the former grand dame.
Prone to reciting Shakespeare and urging Ben to explore his "creativity," Evie is equally adept at vulgarity. Her frustration is understandable: Once accustomed to a certain respect during her heyday, she's now relegated to performing for herself in her back yard. She's peculiar and sometimes alarming, but for Ben, her large house -- cluttered with books and papers and memorabilia from a seemingly exciting career -- is increasingly preferable to his own airless home.
Invited to give a reading at the Edinburgh Festival, Evie tricks Ben into driving her there, which means he has to disobey his mother, who's increasingly jealous of Evie. Ben's "growing up" takes a most pedestrian form here -- he learns to drive, of course, as he also takes responsibility for Evie (and, naturally, comes to appreciate her courage) and even finds a way to lose his virginity with Bryony (Michelle Duncan), the pretty, apparently very bored twenty-something woman who greets Evie in Edinburgh.
At the same time that Ben is "finding himself," Laura seeks her own outlets beyond her humdrum lover, Peter (Oliver Milburn), and stultifying husband. Partly distracted by putting together a play about "Christ's miracles" (with Peter cast as Christ and Ben as a eucalyptus tree), Laura also stumbles across her own elderly, caricatured character in need of attention, Mr. Fincham (Jim Norton). Transformed into a rather hysterical replacement for her wandering son, the old man moves into the house, follows Laura about, and starts wearing her clothes.
On his return home from his road trip, Ben appears not to have learned a single "lesson." He rejoins his mother, taking his place on stage as a tree. The fact that he still needs saving -- after an entire movie's worth of instruction and rescue from assorted women -- suggests that Ben is well on his way to becoming his father after all.
Better films with similar themes include Billy Elliot (starring Walters), Harold and Maude, and Housekeeping.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentDiscussions of sex and a young man's sexual desire; slang for breasts ("t-ts"); adulterous affair; 16-year-old's crush leads to bad romantic poetry; boy's loss of virginity (kiss and embrace, some clothing removed, wakes in the morning with girl in bed); a fan tells Evie her TV soap is "big on the gay scene." |
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ViolenceCar careening; car-related injury; discussion of a man running over his wife with his car (treated as comedy, but doesn't sound so funny). |
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LanguageAt least two "f--ks" (pushing it for PG-13), plus other familiar profanity ("s--t," "hell," "ass"), British profanity ("bloody," "bugger"), and some other language ("queer," "you silly cow"). |
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Social BehaviorCharacters lie; Evie encourages Ben to disobey his mother and is stubbornly obstinate; jokes about evangelical Christian faith; Ben's pushy/insecure mother pays dearly for her "sins" Ben's wimpish father remains wimpish. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoEvie drinks to the point of drunkenness and passing out; Ben drinks wine with Evie (he identifies himself as underage), then drinks liquor in a pub; some background smoke. |
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