Driver’s Ed, 2026.
Directed by Bobby Farrelly.
Starring Sam Nivola, Sophie Telegadis, Mohana Krishnan, Aidan Laprete, Molly Shannon, Kumail Nanjiani, Lilah Pate, Bri Giger, Alyssa Milano, Kevin Iannucci, Marley Aliah, Clayton Farris, Ella Stiller, Chelcie Lynn, Robert Walker Branchaud, Travis Przybylski, Thomas S. Beck, Brennen Suttle, Finn Harry, and Casey Murray.
SYNOPSIS:
A group of teens who steal their school’s driver’s ed car to go on a road trip to help a high school senior track down his college-freshman girlfriend and win her back.
The premise of a road comedy centered on a naive teenager headed cross-state to his girlfriend’s college to surprise her while also getting to the bottom of why their communication seems to have fallen apart in their long distance relationship, coupled with the fact that Bobby Farrelly directs Driver’s Ed which has one of those early 2000s-coded posters crying out “UNRATED with raunchy content the MPAA didn’t want you to see”, certainly sets a viewer up anticipating one mode, subverting that into a surprisingly sweet flick with an abundance of care for its characters, often to the point that trying to be funny itself feels secondary and relegated to the supporting cast of adult players played by well-known comedic faces.
That is, of course, a pro and a con, as there are times when the film (coming from a screenplay by Thomas Moffett) questionably loses sight of its ambitions as a comedy, so focused on characters that, admittedly, for the most part, feel familiar and as if nothing necessarily fresh is happening here. The upside to this is that, while Bobby Farrelly showed flashes of this tender side in his solo directorial debut Champions (a routine sports comedy with heart, centered on a team of mentally challenged young adult basketball players, which sounded like a horrendous idea at the time, considering what the filmmaker is known for, yet turned out to mostly shy away from turning them into a punchline), it is further crystallizing the reason he and brother Peter Farrelly most likely split up, what they each contributed to their films together, and what they are more interested in at this point in their careers. Most associated with raunchy classic comedies, there are few traces of that here, with Bobby seemingly signifying that he wants to tell relatable stories about relatable people. In contrast, his brother, aside from Green Book, can’t bring himself to move away from gross-out juvenile humor that tries to shock audiences.
Given that 18-year-old Jeremy (Sam Nivola) comes across dopey in his cluelessness that 18-year-old Samantha (Lilah Pate), a college freshman (yes, the filmmakers occasionally go out of their way to make it clear that despite being in different stages of their educational lives, they are the same age), is growing distant from him and possibly doesn’t take the relationship as seriously as he does, and might even be flirting with another boy, there is every reason to assume that this has the makings of a raunchy roadtrip comedy, or something along those lines.
Jeremy finds himself regularly getting into trouble in class for texting Samantha, who is either too busy or disinterested to respond (and when she does reply it is to suggest they have a serious talk), with a teacher forcing one of his classmates, Evie (Sophie Telegadis) to read it aloud (she does read this embarrassing, desperate text, which is a stretch as one would imagine a teenager would just make something up to save a friend from mockery), earning detention with foul-mouthed Principal Fisher (Molly Shannon), who doesn’t give a damn about any of his relationship troubles or empathize with his yearning.
Thankfully, the hapless, dimwitted, comically injured substitute driver’s ed teacher, Mr. Rivers (Kumail Nanjiani) is more sympathetic to the situation and students, which also includes carefree stoner Yoshi (Aidan Laprate) and uptight nerd with gamechanging ambitions in the automobile industry, Aparna (Mohana Krishman), not suspecting that Jeremy will drive off with the vehicle and his classmate passengers on a spontaneous mission to meet up with and talk things out with Samantha. Naturally, no one is initially along for this journey (aside from Yoshi, who is more indifferent and doesn’t care much about anything). Still, they relent, pushing back and coming to learn from one another across a series of misadventures.
There are several contrived elements here, such as a photo of Samantha kissing another boy on social media, which Evie is aware of but avoids bringing to Jeremy’s attention to spare him further hurt (not to mention that those pages seem like something Jeremy would occasionally check, given his slight obsession). As more contrivances occur and these characters are split into groups, it also becomes evident that these two might be a more fitting match, with Evie questioning why someone with some serious filmmaking chops would throw away a chance to potentially be lectured by Martin Scorsese at NYU to settle for applying to the same colleges as Samantha. Meanwhile, Yoshi and Aparna seem like one-dimensional characters, but the film is also committed to spending time with them and fleshing out their personalities, namely the pain the former is carrying, which has mostly shut him down from caring about anything.
Where Driver’s Ed loses its way is in some forced situations that are likely intended to compensate for some of the missing comedy here, such as teenagers inadvertently getting caught up in a robbery at a fast-food joint or trying to avoid a school security guard on the run. The latter fits into the story, at least. Nevertheless, one can still sense that the comedy struggles to break through (unless it’s cutting away to Kumail Nanjiani, looking absurd with his arm in a cast, stuck in an inconvenient position), and that, for all its heart, the writing and characters aren’t exactly memorable or special. Mixed bag aside, Bobby Farrelly is the brother to keep an eye on.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
