Driver’s Ed was a charming and lively teen romance comedy that took me back to some of the greats growing up. In the past, there were Road Trip, Eurotrip, and Sex Drive, but this one had a lot more heart than wacky, lewd moments—making for a more realistic, relatable story than going for WTF moments. Then again, who steals the driving school car to go see a college girlfriend? Still, this is a film that went sideways in its own way. Director Bobby Farrelly showed that he still has the creative juices flowing compared to his past great comedies like Dumb and Dumber.
Driver’s Ed follows high school senior Jeremy (Sam Nivola, The White Lotus) and his college freshman girlfriend Samantha (Lilah Pate), who are committed to a long-distance relationship. After all, it’s not that far between their home and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she is attending school. But the separation is wearing on Jeremy. It’s embarrassing enough that he’s obviously lovelorn—and that the high school principal (Molly Shannon) hassles him for sexting in class.
But when a drunken call from Samantha—during a frat party, no less—makes him doubt where they stand, Jeremy decides to take matters into his own hands. He steals the driver’s ed car from his school and hits the road. He is accompanied by a decidedly motley crew: weary drug dealer/stoner Yoshi (Aidan Laprete); prudish valedictorian Aparna (Mohana Krishan); and loner Evie (Sophie Telegadis). Plus, his principal and driving instructor (Kumail Nanjiani) are in hot pursuit.
“Driver’s Ed proved Farrelly still has the rom-com/comedy chops, and the film does not overstay its welcome with its 98-minute runtime.”
I have not seen a wholesome teen rom-com since seeing the Sweethearts premiere at the 2024 Savannah Film Festival. The story contained traditional genre story beats, but it was the acting that stood out the most from the whole cast. Nivola, Telegadis, Laprete, and Krishan had great on-screen chemistry, making for a more believable friend group. What was great about the character arcs and beats was that the characters never felt forced to be romantic or pushed in a way for no reason.
One of the best lines of Telegadis’ Evie is when the friend group decides to ditch their phones so the adults cannot track them. She screams, “I feel naked,” and crashes out like most young teens and kids would these days. The only strange choice was Ella Stiller’s Dakota character, playing Samantha’s college roommate. While it was enlightening to see a sex positive person be the responsible one, she had some kind of mystical power storyline that was a choice, to say the least.
Movies like The Breakfast Club or past road trip comedies did not show a lot of what the adults were up to, whereas Driver’s Ed did that. Shannon’s Principal Fisher was just as unhinged as Nanjiani playing the brutally injured driver’s education teacher, Mr. Rivers. Both of them brought their comedy strengths. Both played off each other’s improvised jokes perfectly. One of Nanjiani’s best lines when describing how he got injured was, “By the time I woke up, I was a tea pot.”
Again, the adult cast had a noticeably out-of-place character with the school security guard, Officer Walsh. He had an intense police ego and hero trip that was taken to the max, creating some comedic moments. Most of these genre side characters would be out of the main story focus in other films, but this film tied it all together. More importantly, most of the adults were not simply cameos. The only question I had was why Alyssa Milano was in this film for one scene, playing Jeremy’s mother—she could have been any other actress.
In many recent films, there seem to be a lot of notable animal actors. Deadpool & Wolverine had Peggy, the world’s ugliest dog (but also cute!); The Long Walk had a small gray and white cat who was also blind, named Dory; and Nemo and Tango as “Goose,” the Orange Tabby Cat in The Marvels. This movie had a three-legged grey cat, which was played for a chuckle-worthy pun, working in the wholesome moments of this film.
What made Driver’s Ed stand out from many of its road trip rom-com predecessor movies was its strong themes. It dealt with divorced parents, grief, and learning one’s sexual identity in ways teen rom-coms have not covered before in this way. The best rom-coms bring emotional depth, along with the raunchy and outlandish antics.
Driver’s Ed proved Farrelly still has the rom-com/comedy chops, and the film does not overstay its welcome with its 98-minute runtime. There are complex characters with three-dimensional problems. Despite not bringing anything drastically new to the genre, it was still a good flick to laugh and have a good time with.
