Review of Driving Miss Daisy (2015) by Robert H — 07 Mar 2015

DRIVING MISS DAISY is the simple (really, simplistic) story of the growing friendship between an elderly Jewish woman (Jessica Tandy) and her black chauffeur (Morgan Freeman) over the course of 25 years.

While the the aspect of examining an unlikely friendship over a significant period of time is interesting and tender at times, it also reeks of Oscar bait. Still, the performances were excellent. Jessica Tandy does a great job portraying a self-described "liberal" who isn't "prejudiced," and Morgan Freeman does the best he can with his seriously patronizing chauffeur character.

I'd say that the major problems with the film lie with its source material than with anything else. While the film can get away with a certain amount due to it being a period piece (covering 1948-1973), it glosses over the racial material a little too much and invoking Martin Luther King Jr seemed like pandering.

That being said, the film's primary concern is the development of the central friendship, and it does well in that respect. It is rather sweet to see the relationship develop and progress from thinly veiled contempt to genuine caring (on Miss Daisy's part).

Other elements of the film are also worth mentioning, such as the score by Hans Zimmer. As someone more familiar with his work on Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, this was quite interesting and unlike anything else I've heard from him.

Some of the synth work was a little too "80's" but was still pleasant to listen to. The cinematography and makeup were also well done, and might have had more to do with why this did so well at the Academy Awards then with the actual subject matter (not to discount Jessica Tandy's performance, though).

Overall, DRIVING MISS DAISY is a perfectly decent, if unspectacular film about a friendship. It's just a shame that it didn't do more to buck certain cinematic stereotypes.