Driving Lessons

has a storyline on the road to nowhere

Film Review by Yasmin Jilaihawi | 12 Nov 2006
Film title: Driving Lessons
Director: Jeremy Brock

Dependable, British cinema delivers exactly what it promises. 'Driving Lessons' is not a high-octane, fast-paced glossy action thriller; rather a feel-good family film starring Julie Walters as has-been actress Evie, and Rupert Grint ('Harry Potter') as her young protege Ben. The emphasis on their burgeoning friendship steers away from the plot, which is full of holes and vagaries. The script contains elements that seem out-of-place, though they pass as adding to the idiosyncrasies and eccentricities of the oddball characters. Though a little stilted at times, Walters and Grint build a fairly convincing rapport which makes for a very watchable film.

An uncredited part in the film is played the backdrop of scenic views, over Edinburgh, rural England and outer London, which make for some good cinematography. Travels in Evie's vintage car bring encounters with various secondary characters with various questionable accents - from mockney to mock Edinburgh - then back home to the vicarage's exaggeratedly stern matriarch, played by Laura Linney. Though the road-to-nowhere storyline disappoints the script, the screenplay has some comic gems as well as cringe-worthy moments. These are justified by the semi-autobiographical nature of this film, which goes some way to explaining the particularities of this rather peculiar, charming but dull Britflick. [Yasmin Jilaihawi]

Read Paul Greenwood's review of Driving Lessons

Released 26 December
Dir J. Brock
Starring Julie Walters, Laura Linney, Rupert Grint
Dist. Tartan Video http://www.tartanvideo.com