- An 11-year-old boy's amazing ability to break wind leads him to fame as he fulfills his ambition of becoming an astronaut. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â CHILDREN Rating:Â R Age:Â 796019803458 UPC:Â 796019803458 Manufacturer No:Â 80345
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 ma! n. 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 messageâ€"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 No! rton), b ut 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 holdâ€"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)
Beyond Driving Lessons at Amazon.com
More Films about Coming of Age |
The Films o! f Julie Walters |
Learn to Drive |
They share the same birth month, so the orphanage calls them December Boys. But these teens â€" Maps, Spit, Spark and Misty â€" have much more in common. With no hopes of ever joining a family, they form their own familial bonds. Then the unexpected news comes that a young couple may adopt one of them, and the long-time pals suddenly share something else: a rivalry to be the chosen one.Take dead aim at action-packed laughs with this killer comedy featuring an all-star cast. Emily Blunt steals the show as Rose, a free-spirited thief who finds herself in the cross hairs of a world-class assassin named Victor (Bill Nighy). But when Victor spares Rose’s life, the lonely hearted hitman sets off an outrageous chain of events that turn both their worlds upside down. Joined by a gun-toting! apprentice (Rupert Grint), the unlikely trio teams up to thwart the murderous intentions of Victor’s unhappy client. An 11-year-old boy's amazing ability to break wind leads him to fame as he fulfills his ambition of becoming an astronaut.
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