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Driver\u2019s Ed <\/em>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, <\/em>and Sex Drive, <\/em>but this one had a lot more heart than wacky, lewd moments\u2014making 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<\/a> showed that he still has the creative juices flowing compared to his past great comedies like Dumb and Dumber.<\/em><\/p>\n Driver\u2019s Ed<\/em> follows high school senior Jeremy (Sam Nivola, The White Lotus<\/em>) and his college freshman girlfriend Samantha (Lilah Pate), who are committed to a long-distance relationship. After all, it\u2019s not that far between their home and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she is attending school. But the separation is wearing on Jeremy. It\u2019s embarrassing enough that he\u2019s obviously lovelorn\u2014and that the high school principal (Molly Shannon<\/a>) hassles him for sexting in class.<\/p>\n But when a drunken call from Samantha\u2014during a frat party, no less\u2014makes him doubt where they stand, Jeremy decides to take matters into his own hands. He steals the driver\u2019s 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<\/a>) are in hot pursuit.<\/p>\n \u201cDriver\u2019s Ed<\/em> proved Farrelly still has the rom-com\/comedy chops, and the film does not overstay its welcome with its 98-minute runtime.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n I have not seen a wholesome teen rom-com since seeing the Sweethearts<\/em><\/a> premiere at the 2024 Savannah Film Festival<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n One of the best lines of Telegadis\u2019 Evie is when the friend group decides to ditch their phones so the adults cannot track them. She screams, \u201cI feel naked,\u201d and crashes out like most young teens and kids would these days. The only strange choice was Ella Stiller\u2019s Dakota character, playing Samantha\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Movies like The Breakfast Club <\/em>or past road trip comedies did not show a lot of what the adults were up to, whereas Driver\u2019s Ed <\/em>did that. Shannon\u2019s Principal Fisher was just as unhinged as Nanjiani playing the brutally injured driver\u2019s education teacher, Mr. Rivers. Both of them brought their comedy strengths. Both played off each other\u2019s improvised jokes perfectly. One of Nanjiani\u2019s best lines when describing how he got injured was, \u201cBy the time I woke up, I was a tea pot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n