You feel for 17-year-old Ben (Rupert Grint). His mom is a controlling Bible thumper (Laura Linney). His ''best friend'' is Evie, a hunched-over, Auntie Mame-ish actress (a shrill Julie Walters). In the rigged comic battle that ensues over his young soul, naturally Driving Lessons is on swanny Evie's side (she steals the boy away for a road trip to Edinburgh fun!), but Linney is too sensitive and capable an actress to play a stock villain like this. That everyone in the movie dislikes her makes you dislike everyone in the movie.
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