Driving Miss Daisy

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd, Patti Lupone, Esther Rolle
Directed by: Bruce Beresford
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
1989

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An elderly Southern widow (Jessica Tandy) and her African-American chauffer (Morgan Freeman) have a 25 year friendship that starts out cold, but over the years they grow closer and closer together.

Review:

Tim: This is a good movie, but I expected much more from the Academy Award winner for Best Picture of 1989. I tried not to, but I couldn't help but hoping for a little more and being a bit disappointed.

The story is well written and we are generally interested in the story of an unlikely friendship between Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy. Over the years, however, we are just given more and more of the same, and this gets a bit tedious.

Tandy is very good as the crotchety Miss Daisy. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress. Freeman is very good as Hoke, but he's good in whatever he does. Dan Aykroyd nearly steals the show as Tandy's son. He humorously takes all of Tandy's stubborness and interacts extremely well with Freeman. As strange as it sounds, Aykroyd is the most important actor in the film- we also see the passage of time more fully by the change in his appearance. He's the only one that makes a noticeable change.

I don't always agree with the Academy's decisions, and I feel this film is a tad weaker than most Best Picture winners. It feels like too safe and conventional a choice.

However, I don't want to paint the wrong picture. This film is enjoyable and not bad at all. I have every reason to believe you will like it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Do the Right Thing, Tender Mercies, Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven, The Shawshank Redemption