One of the first steps toward growing up is achieving some degree of financial independence. That's what Ben (Rupert Grint) decides to do.
   
   At the age of 17 1/2, this nerdy, poetic Brit marshmallow ventures forth from a claustrophobic home dominated by his smugly religious mother (Laura Linney) and browbeaten vicar dad (Nicholas Farrell) to work as an errand boy for an actress named Evie Wharton (Julie Walters ).
   Evie -- profane, rude, eccentric, often drunk, full of herself, pretty much over the hill, yet inexplicably intriguing -- is the polar opposite of Ben's sanctimonious circle. So Ben ends up with more than a salary (spotty though it is in arriving); he gets exposed to a wildly bizarre world far beyond the boundaries of the one he has always known.
   This is the story of Driving Lessons, the directorial debut of screenwriter Jeremy Brock (The Last King of Scotland, Charlotte Gray). Although plagued with scenes that speed up and slow down with the unpredictability of a teenage driver at the wheel, along with occasional bouts of scenery-chewing by Linney and Walters, it's a pleasant enough experience.
   That's because Grint, best known as Harry Potter's pal Ron Weasley, is completely convincing as a wide-eyed kid caught between his need to please his domineering mother and Evie's need -- despite her vociferous assertions of independence -- for him to be her friend.
   Although Evie proclaims herself to be a dame with Shakespearean chops, she's actually renowned for a cheesy TV soap opera role. She tells a few other whoppers too, which naive Ben swallows hook, line and sinker.
   Then, on an impromptu road trip to Edinburgh that includes a camp-out under the stars and a few other equally unexpected events, Ben figures Evie out, and learns a great deal about himself as well.
   Aided by gorgeous Scottish scenery and a stunning soundtrack featuring the music of Richard Thompson and Nick Drake, Driving Lessons is at its best when Ben and Evie are on the road in a lovely old Citroen, trading lines of poetry and deconstructing some of the better bits of English language. "You're a poet -- you understand the power of words," Evie pronounces as they wend their way to a literary festival. And it turns out that words, not actions or paychecks or parental guidance, are the method that Ben chooses to figure out who he is, and who he wants to be.
   

Driving Lessons B- Cast:
Rupert Grint, Julie Walters, Laura Linney

Director:
Jeremy Brock

Rating: PG-13
for language, sexual content

Running time:
98 minutes

This story was published Friday, December 22, 2006