JourneywomanDriving Lessons - A Movie Review
June 12th 2007 02:51
After five films and a great deal of cash and hype, the young stars of Harry Potter have all grown up in front of the camera living out what many people only manage to dream of. In an acting gig for the ages they have been able to work alongside some of the most talented artists in the acting world from the greatest directors that Hollywood has to offer to the greatest actors of the awe inspiring British theatre and cinema pantheon.
However, just of late they've begun to realise that they can't stay young forever, and that Harry Potter, like all good things, must come to an end. The result has been rumblings in the interiors each of the stars who did not have an already solidified acting career to fall back on began to worry what life would be like after Harry.
And why not?
Given that by the syndicates end audiences will have spent something approaching a decade associating the same actors with the same parts, they are right to be concerned whether audiences will be able to see them as anything other than their wizarding dopplegangers.
Daniel Radcliffe managed to go out and get himself some stage work in the deliciously naked contraversy that was the revival of Peter Schaeffer's masterwork Equus in London's West End and an Australian film, December Boys, set for a release later this year.
Emma Watson, aka Hermione Granger has not been so lucky, and earlier this years there were questions as to whether she would be reprising her role in the final two instalments of Harry Potter. No doubt her salary shot up as a result for she decided to stay on in spite of the damage this cheap-ass children's syndicate was doing to her artistic nature.
Rupert Grint, who we all know as Ron Weasley, has been the only other member of the young cast to go out into the world of arthouse films and nab himself a role during the Harry Potter off-season, and that role is now visible on screens accross Australia in the charmingly pointless movie Driving Lessons.
Cast alongside Julie Walters (who plays his mother, Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter films), Grint plays Ben Marshall, an awkward and gawkward seventeen year-old with a dysfunctional family of religious fanatics.
His mother is the brilliant Laura Linney, a religious freak for the ages, bored with her husband, a Vicar, and schnupping the younger-model Vicar on the side. She seemingly has a heart big enough to house the world - at the very least the silent leech Mr Fincham, taken in after his wife dies and eager to do everything from eat their food, take their money and wear Mum's clothes!
See the brilliant line: "you may have noticed that Mr Fincham has begun wearing my clothes. We must consider it a part of the recovery process."
Naturally Linney's character is a bitch par excellence and young Grint's character is thoroughly in her shadow. He's a poet in his spare time with an appreciation of the finer things like literature, and teenage girls - who all think him a total weirdo of course!
Enter Julie Walter as former Royal Shakespeare Company stage great, and sometime cable-TV star Dame Evie Walton. She advertises for a assistant and young Ben falls into her nets. What results is a brilliant collaboration that consists of Julie Walters talking and Rupert Grint reacting! It's a magnificent partnership and so far critics seem to mistake a poor script for some sort of ineptitude on the part of Grint.
Given the fact that his character is a snivelling apologist with scant moments of spunk who's every second line is "sorry!" he does an admirable job.
The story line here is irrelevant as it is poorly done, ending on a disastrously weak note that catapults this movie from potential British classic to the bargain bin at the local DVD store. A shame as it has a great deal of potential.
Julie Walters, as usual, is a force of nature! Her character is a magnificent creation!
Her lines are brilliant and she delivers punch after punch and surprise after hilarious surprise, carrying the movie effortlessly from the minute she appears on the screen. Had this movie been in anyway inspiring there is no doubt at all she would have been looking at a long overdue BAFTA Award!
This is a movie to see if you want a good laugh on a Sunday afternoon. Unless you are an especially devoted fan of either Rupert Grint, Julie Walters or Laura Linney then do not make any special effort to see this film. It will be on DVD and very cheap before long and on TV not long after that - most likely ABC.
Over all this is a movie that should have been better than it was and fails to say anything beyond what audiences already know - aged British actresses kick ass!!!
Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson are all slowly growing up to realise there may not be life outside Harry Potter
And why not?
Given that by the syndicates end audiences will have spent something approaching a decade associating the same actors with the same parts, they are right to be concerned whether audiences will be able to see them as anything other than their wizarding dopplegangers.
Daniel Radcliffe managed to go out and get himself some stage work in the deliciously naked contraversy that was the revival of Peter Schaeffer's masterwork Equus in London's West End and an Australian film, December Boys, set for a release later this year.
The play and the infamous nude scenes that won Daniel Radcliffe international headlines
Emma Watson, aka Hermione Granger has not been so lucky, and earlier this years there were questions as to whether she would be reprising her role in the final two instalments of Harry Potter. No doubt her salary shot up as a result for she decided to stay on in spite of the damage this cheap-ass children's syndicate was doing to her artistic nature.
Rupert Grint, who we all know as Ron Weasley, has been the only other member of the young cast to go out into the world of arthouse films and nab himself a role during the Harry Potter off-season, and that role is now visible on screens accross Australia in the charmingly pointless movie Driving Lessons.
Rupert Grint, Laura Linney and the magnificent Julie Walters in Driving Lessons
Cast alongside Julie Walters (who plays his mother, Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter films), Grint plays Ben Marshall, an awkward and gawkward seventeen year-old with a dysfunctional family of religious fanatics.
His mother is the brilliant Laura Linney, a religious freak for the ages, bored with her husband, a Vicar, and schnupping the younger-model Vicar on the side. She seemingly has a heart big enough to house the world - at the very least the silent leech Mr Fincham, taken in after his wife dies and eager to do everything from eat their food, take their money and wear Mum's clothes!
See the brilliant line: "you may have noticed that Mr Fincham has begun wearing my clothes. We must consider it a part of the recovery process."
Naturally Linney's character is a bitch par excellence and young Grint's character is thoroughly in her shadow. He's a poet in his spare time with an appreciation of the finer things like literature, and teenage girls - who all think him a total weirdo of course!
Enter Julie Walter as former Royal Shakespeare Company stage great, and sometime cable-TV star Dame Evie Walton. She advertises for a assistant and young Ben falls into her nets. What results is a brilliant collaboration that consists of Julie Walters talking and Rupert Grint reacting! It's a magnificent partnership and so far critics seem to mistake a poor script for some sort of ineptitude on the part of Grint.
Grint and Walters are an inspired onscreen pairing
Given the fact that his character is a snivelling apologist with scant moments of spunk who's every second line is "sorry!" he does an admirable job.
The story line here is irrelevant as it is poorly done, ending on a disastrously weak note that catapults this movie from potential British classic to the bargain bin at the local DVD store. A shame as it has a great deal of potential.
Julie Walters, as usual, is a force of nature! Her character is a magnificent creation!
Her lines are brilliant and she delivers punch after punch and surprise after hilarious surprise, carrying the movie effortlessly from the minute she appears on the screen. Had this movie been in anyway inspiring there is no doubt at all she would have been looking at a long overdue BAFTA Award!
Laura Linney's religious fanatic bitch is a fantastic, yet subtly human creation
This is a movie to see if you want a good laugh on a Sunday afternoon. Unless you are an especially devoted fan of either Rupert Grint, Julie Walters or Laura Linney then do not make any special effort to see this film. It will be on DVD and very cheap before long and on TV not long after that - most likely ABC.
Over all this is a movie that should have been better than it was and fails to say anything beyond what audiences already know - aged British actresses kick ass!!!
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