Critic Reviews

Director Bobby Farrelly’s “Driver’s Ed” may not reinvent the wheel, but by playing squarely to its middle-of-the-road strengths with a young cast clearly aware of the type of movie they’re in (it embodies the spirit of those early 2000s “friends hang out and go on an adventure” films), it’s still a trip worth taking.

Drifting between heartfelt dramedy and broad comedy, Driver’s Ed doesn’t always blend the two with enough finesse.

Driver's Ed hardly reinvents the wheel when it comes to the YA world, and it's far from perfect. Still, with its string of solid laughs and a very game cast, it makes for an entertaining adventure that goes down easy.

Ultimately, Driver’s Ed does win you over, and you can always watch it the way its protagonists would—while scrolling through your phone.

There are a few laughs to be found in the film, little moments of wit or weirdness, but the film is otherwise a mirthless drag rescued only by its bright leads. Maybe let them make the movie next time.

Maybe it was too much to have expected something fresher than the totally 80s feel-good vibe that Drivers’ Ed is content to deliver, but considering the source, the comedy can’t help but feel unmotivated. It’s what the kids today would call mid.

Driver’s Ed is mildly amusing at best. It’s a good-natured and good-hearted film without much of the edge or hilarity the Farrelly brothers brought to Dumb and Dumber or There’s Something About Mary.

Driver’s Ed is a film about learning to let your own experiences shape you. Real life doesn’t always play out like the movies, and the only way to figure that out is by going on the journey yourself. But Farrelly and Moffett fail to heed their own message, as this feels more like a rehash of the films that came before than its own unique quest.

Not that this is the fault of an appealing young cast gamely doing their best to inject energy and personality into inert, exposition-heavy, joke-light dialogue that could not sound less like the way modern teenagers talk if every second word was “rad.”