Driving Lessons (2006)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C
Stuck
with an annoying mother (Laura Linney) and ineffective father, son Ben (Rupert
Grint) lands up spending time with an older woman named Evie (Julie Walters)
who is off her rocker in writer/director Jeremy Brock’s Driving Lessons, a 2006 comedy that could have worked if the
situations in it were not so idiotic.
Especially with all this acting talent, the film simply misfires.
His
mother will not let him grow up and Evie is not helping the matter with her
free spirit on the border of psychosis.
Grint is forced to carry most of the film and holds his won well against
the veteran cast, but the screenplay by Brock just pushes the bounds of
believability too often and we have seen this kind of thing done much better
and more realistic before. The result
was something like Harold & Maude
lite, though if Brock had been smarter, it could have been great.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is soft and might have been even shot on
HD, but it is hard to tell with the odd look of the transfer. This is a dialogue-driven film, so the Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix is limited in its surrounds and richness. The only extras include deleted scenes,
outtakes and a making of featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
