Driving Lessons

A Modern Day Reflection of 'Harold and Maude'
DRIVING LESSONS is a little film that sneaks up on you. What at first seems to be a bit of fluffy nonsense comedy British style is at its base a very fine story about coming of age and the needs for significant friendship of both the young and the elderly. Writer Jeremy Brock ('Mrs. Brown', 'Charlotte Gray', 'The Last King of Scotland') here directs his own screenplay and the result is a cohesive, progressively involving tale filled with fascinating and diverse characters, each performed by sterling actors.

Ben Marshall (Rupert Grint, standing firmly on his own as a developing actor post 'Harry Potter' series) is a quiet, plain little poetic seventeen-year-old living with his bird watching Vicar father (Nicholas Farrell) and his obsessive compulsive, rigid, evangelical do-gooder mother (Laura Linney) in a home where 'needy people', such as the murderous cross-dressing Mr. Fincham (Jim Norton), take precedence over family matters: the mother is by the way having an affair...

Rupert Grint has grown up!
I saw Driving Lessons at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2005, and I fell in love with it! I have always been a fan of Rupert, from the Harry Potter movies, and was excited to see him in another role. This was a great role for him to break out in. The first time he sayd f*ck, i was shocked! but it works incredibly well for the character Ben. There was a twist at the end i wasn't expecting, but I pretty much just wanted to give him a hug when the credits rolled up. I have been waiting for the DVD for AGES, and cannot wait to own it!!

Driving Lessons
This is definitely a must buy movie. Though it wasn't released in the United States for long, and I had to buy it through the UK amazon, it was worth it. Rupert Grint is amazing! Laura Linney can definitely pull off insane, and Julie Walters is hilarious! If you love to laugh, then you'll love this movie!!

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