Review of Driving Miss Daisy (2015) by Aaron M — 02 May 2011

Tick off another movie in my quest to see all the Best Pictures. I have to say, while in many ways this is the typical Oscar winner (safe....slow....boring.....non-offensive) I myself can't help but think there were at least 10 better films in 1989 than this one.

Morgan Freeman is definitely the shining center of the movie (does any actor have a better success rate for a job well done vs a dud than him?) which makes it all he more weird that he was one of the Oscar noms that did NOT win from this movie.

Jessica Tandy was pretty good as cranky old Miss Daisy, and I enjoyed the supporting work from Aykroyd. The problem with the film is that it tends to glaze over the moments where they really could have given it more depth, even though some themes are totally overplayed to begin with (token racist policemen scene, for example).

I don't feel like they allowed enough time for the characters to really gain the personal appreciation the filmmakers wanted you to buy into by the end. Pretty middle of the road for me.