TxMike Somehow we missed this movie when it came out several years ago but now were able to watch it at home on DVD from our public library. It is a very nice story of people from different cultures influencing each other.Patricia Clarkson is well-known New York literature critic Wendy. One liability of her career is that she takes it a bit too seriously resulting in scant attention to her marriage of 20+ years. So her husband strays and it looks like this time he may be gone for good. Quite by accident she meets up with Taxi driver Ben Kingsley as political refugee from India, Darwan. But he is also a driving instructor and when returning to her something she left in his cab, gives her his card.Living in New York and having a husband to do the driving when necessary, Wendy never had learned to drive. Now her 20-ish daughter was moving away so Wendy became motivated, if she could drive she could go visit her.So much of the movie is Wendy's difficult task of learning to drive in New York, while Darwar has a big issue of his own, relatives back home arranged a marriage for him with a nice Indian woman so he had to meet her at the airport and take her home, then help her get acclimated to American life.Sarita Choudhury, like Kingsley a British actor, plays the role of Jasleen. Overall a very entertaining and worthwhile movie.

MartinHafer "Learning to Drive" is a slice of life film that is well acted but seems to leave the viewer cold by the end. A better or at least a more complete ending would have made this a more enjoyable viewing experience.When the film begins, Darwan (Ben Kingsley) is a very hardworking guy--working both night and day driving taxis and teaching folks to drive. He meets a pathetic lady, Wendy (Patricia Clarkson), when her husband of over 20 years dumps her in his cab! Coincidentally, when she starts picking up the pieces of her life, Wendy decides she wants to learn to drive so she can go to Vermont to spend time with her daughter...and she calls Darwan's driving school. Through the course of the film, she and Darwan become friends...which is good, as he needs a lot of patience because she's a horrible driver..just horrible. Clarkson and Kingsley are both really good actors...so I did enjoy the film simply so I could watch them. But as for the script, it left me a bit flat because the ending was so abrupt and anticlimactic. See the film for yourself...and see if you, too, agree.

Gino Cox "Learning to Drive" is a small film. It's a total chick flick about rather ordinary people with fairly mundane problems. It doesn't offer any momentous insights into the human condition or any brilliant morals about the meaning of life and our purpose on this planet. It is somewhat familiar and fairly predictable with a by-the-numbers structure. It does leave several loose strings lying about. There's a subplot and theme about immigration and xenophobia that adds little and goes nowhere in particular, although it does make Darwan's life seem more multifaceted. There's a romantic subplot involving a banker that seems like it might be an important plot development, but fizzles out. There's an unexpected proclamation of love that doesn't feel earned. Wendy gives Darwan advice that we expect him to accept in some demonstrable manner, but he never does. After suffering several significant financial setbacks, Darwan surrenders one source of income. Patricia Clarkson does a really good job with the role. However, the characters seem a little unbalanced in terms of the ages of the actors and the timeline of the story. At fifty-six, Clarkson plays a woman who has been married twenty-one years to a guy played by an actor five years her junior who looks like he might be in his mid-forties and has a daughter played by a twenty-nine-year-old actress. The actors don't fit the ages of the characters they portray very well, which is distracting despite solid performances. Production values are adequate. There are quite a few shots of actors driving cars and they never seem unrealistic. A few jiggly-cam shots are slightly distracting, but they actually seemed to use a tripod or other camera mount for other shots. A few edits are abrupt and distracting. In general the production values are adequate. My greatest frustration is the lack of a solid moral. Although it is an unabashed chick flick, the moral seems a bit anti-feminist at times. Girls, if you want to keep your men interested, get off your butts, improve yourselves and be more adventurous in the bedroom. And buy some sexy underwear. Overall, a modest production unlikely to stir strong feelings in any direction. It's not very funny or very dramatic. But it offers a seemingly realistic view into the lives of some very ordinary people.

Dave McClain The deceptively simple act of driving is rich with symbolism that can easily be seen as reflective of various aspects of life. Think about it: stepping on the gas, hitting cruise control, slamming on the brakes, looking in the rear view mirror, allowing yourself to get distracted, having to keep an eye on those around you, missing your exit, finding yourself in unfamiliar territory, etc., etc., etc. Driving as metaphor is a device that the comedy-drama "Learning to Drive" (R, 1:30) uses to maximum advantage.Wendy Shields (Patricia Clarkson) is a self-absorbed New York book editor who is slow to realize that her 20+ year marriage is coming to an end. She is shocked when her husband, Ted (Jack Weber), tells her that he's leaving her. Even though Wendy understands that Ted has been cheating on her, she still believes that this is a phase and he'll come back. She's naturally distraught about the situation, but it seems to be less about losing the love of her life and more about losing the life she loved. She was very comfortable in her marriage and her routine. Maybe too comfortable. Maybe that's what doomed the marriage. Both Wendy and Ted stopped trying. The difference is that Ted realized it and Wendy didn't. Rather than talking about it, Ted acted out and Wendy was blind-sided. And two lives were upended.The other difference between Wendy and Ted is that Ted had something to move on to, while Wendy is having trouble moving on at all. Not only had Wendy depended on Ted for comfort and security, but also for driving. As residents of the Big Apple, with all its subways and taxis, they didn't drive much, but when they did, it was Ted behind the wheel. Wendy doesn't even have a license or know how to drive… how to get anywhere on her own. (Starting to see those metaphors I was talking about?) Wendy needs to learn to drive – to "get from A to B", but also to establish her independence, and to move forward – figuratively and literally. She wants to be able to visit her college-aged daughter, Tasha (Grace Gummer), who lives on a farm – for from New York's public transportation system. Enter Darwan Singh Tur.Actually, Darwan (Ben Kingsley) entered the story in the movie's very first scene. He happened to be the cab driver who picked up Wendy and Ted outside the restaurant where he told her that he was leaving her. After Darwan dropped Ted off at his mistress' house and then took Wendy home, he found an envelope that she had left in his cab. The next day he brought her the envelope, but this time he was driving his other "company car", that of a driving instructor. Wendy notices and asks for his card. She calls to schedule her first lesson, but Darwan has to cajole her to even get into the car. Her reluctance turns to fear as soon as she gets behind the wheel. Fortunately for Wendy, Darwan is a good teacher, and a good and patient man. He gets her to pull away from the curb… and the metaphors continue.As Darwan teaches Wendy about the finer points of life, er, I mean… driving, the two form an unlikely friendship. As much as Wendy needs Darwan's patience and companionship, he needs her wisdom. He has agreed to a marriage arranged for him by his sister back in India. When his bride, Mata (Daniela Lavender) arrives in the U.S., he doesn't know how to relate to her. Both Darwan and Mata are middle-aged and never married, but they are different in every other way, and, one day after meeting, they're husband and wife. Darwan soon finds himself as desperate and clueless as Wendy was when she first entered his cab, and his life. As with any driving lesson, they each experience stops and starts in learning to handle their new lives, but each benefits from the wisdom and inherent goodness of the other."Learning to Drive" is a slight, but pleasant enough lesson in resilience, perseverance and friendship. The driving metaphors are very effective, if a bit too obvious at times. Clarkson's performance is very good, except for when she oversells the fear that an accomplished woman of her years experiences while engaged in the simplest tasks inside a car. Wendy and Darwan are both likable and amusing characters, even if the film sometimes moves as slowly as Wendy during her first lesson. "C+"