I sat at the beautiful Princess of Wales theatre with a large crowd of film fans while watching Driver's Ed, and realized, this was probably the first time in years that I've actually seen a comedy in a packed theatre. Driver's Ed seems to have been picked up by Amazon Prime, so most people's experience of this movie will be at home, and not with hundreds of other strangers. And to me, that's a shame.
Yes, there's a bit of TIFFlation with how I view this movie, but I can't help but feel like iconic comedy mastermind Bob Farelly, who directed this film, hit the nail on the head that we simply "don't see films like this anymore."
There's something proudly retro about Driver's Ed, a solid little teen comedy that feels authentic to Gen Z, is honestly very funny and yet, doesn't veer into the more "off colour" and sometimes mean spirited tropes we associate with raunchy teen comedies. Maybe it's a sign of the times - today's youth isn't as gung ho about gross out and sex scenes anymore - but that doesn't mean we can't laugh.
Driver's Ed really works because its core four actors - Sam Nivola, Aidan Laprete, Sophie Telegadis, and Mohana Krishnan - have electric chemistry. Following Nivola's Jeremy, a film obsessed high school senior (take a shot if you've heard that before) who impulsively steals a student driver car to see his new-to-college girlfriend Sam (Lilah Pate) and takes the other three along with him (completely unintentionally), Driver's Ed is essentially a road movie.
The film wears its micro budget on its sleeve; as Farelly admitted, they spent a small $100,000 on this thing, and it does show. We have a lot of drone footage of the car driving, only a couple sets, some wacky interactions here and there, but really, a lot of time spent with these four characters in a car. The movie works because it's hard not to like these characters.
Aidan Laprete's Yoshi absolutely steals the show here and has most of the film's funniest lines and is behind its best moments. His comic timing is fantastic and his stoner slacker character - to borrow a term from the youth - gets to cook. The other travellers - Telegadis' Evie (a former popular girl who's fell out with her crew) and Krishnahan's Aparna (the classic over achiever) don't get nearly as much to do, although their presence never hurts the film.
I felt like there was a lot missing from the film; sub plots that weren't explored, relationships that were only briefly touched on. This is a movie that is purely set out to make you, the audience, feel good and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It doesn't have much to say, even though I feel like it could've: the characters - like most high schoolers - know each other despite not really being friends, just by virtue of essentially growing up together. I wish this dynamic could've been explored a bit more.
At times, Driver's Ed feels like it's struggling to fill its run time, even with really fun side characters like Molly Shannon's Principal (who, naturally, detests children) and Kumail Nanjiani's strangely named "Mr. Rivers", quite possibly the worst Driver's Ed teacher ever. These adult characters are appropriately goofy and fun, and honestly, it's great to just spend time with them in what is essentially, a relatively low stakes movie.
The final set piece at the unamed Chapel Hill, North Carolina university is pretty great (and likely where a lot of the budget was spent). It reminded me of how few party movies we have nowadays; it often feels like we never get to see Gen Z have fun anymore, and it was honestly nice to.
There are some things here and there that felt a little weird or picked up and dropped just a bit too quickly to work for me; I'm squarely thinking of Aparna and Evie's subplots; but I get it. You get $100K to make a movie, you don't want it to be too long, and ultimately, the laughs are what matters.
I really hope Driver's Ed does well, finds an audience, and as Farelly expressed at my showing, we get more movies just like it.
