DRIVING LESSONS

UK, 2006, 98 minutes, Colour.
Rupert Grint, Laura Linney, Julie Walters, Tamsin Egerton, Jim Norton, Nicholas Farrell, Oliver Milburn.
Directed by Jeremy Brock.

Allegedly based on the actual experiences of writer-director, Jeremy Brock, when he worked as a chauffeur for distinguished actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft (Oscar for A Passage to India). One hopes that she was not as loose-mouthed as Julie Walters as this ageing star of TV soaps who is clinging on to edges of life and memories of her heyday!

This is a quirky comedy with Rupert Grint (best known as Ron Weasley, Harry Potter’s friend) as the nice but rather naïve adolescent whose mother is a pillar of the Church and whose father is a Vicar of the Church of England. Laura Linney, sporting a British accent, is the mother and Nicholas Farrell is the retiring but nice vicar. There is also a young curate in the background who looks for relevance of the church in the happy-clappy style.

While mother’s demands on her son set a serious tone, it is his odd escapades with the actress: camping out in the countryside, getting her to a recital in Edinburgh where she succumbs to nerves which provide more of the humour. Ultimately, he has to make decisions for himself.

A slight entertainment with a pleasantly awestruck Rupert Grint and a very eccentric Julie Walters.