大象传媒

It may not pass with flying colours, but Driving Lessons still motors along likeably enough. The directorial debut from scripter Jeremy Brock (Mrs Brown, Charlotte Gray), it's a coming-of-age comedy that sees Rupert Grint on a rare break from Hogwarts. He plays Ben, the shy son of an uptight mum (Laura Linney) who slips the apron strings when he takes a summer job with Evie, a retired actress brought to sweary life by Julie Walters in a performance that's got BAFTA win written all over it.

Brock reportedly based the screenplay on his own youthful experiences working for Peggy Ashcroft, though it's hard to believe the Oscar-winning dame was as foul-mouthed as her fictional counterpart. Evie's profane battle with the pruning shears when she enters the picture provides the first big laugh. A fair smattering follow as our Harold And Maude-esque odd couple go camping, recite Shakespeare in the garden and head off to the Edinburgh Festival, where Ben is drawn to a girl nearer his own age.

"MORE THAN A HINT OF ACORN ANTIQUES"

Nonetheless, it's the matriarchs who dominate the lad's life, as well as the film. Linney unleashes a flawless English accent and an icy smile as the Bible-bashing Laura, whose control-freakery neatly counterpoints the chaotic spontaneity of Evie's life. Walters' wild-eyed performance has more than a hint of Acorn Antiques about it, but she - and Brock - only go too OTT in the farcical church-play climax. Grint, meanwhile, turns up wearing that over-familiar queasy-Weasley look, but does enough to steer our sympathies in the right direction.

Driving Lessons is released in UK cinemas on Friday 8th September 2006.