Review of Driving Miss Daisy (2015) by Simeon D — 17 Apr 2010

Driving Miss Daisy, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Alfred Uhry, is a heartwarming story about friendship with a strong emotional punch and uncommitted performances from Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman.

Miss Daisy (Jessica Tandy), an elderly Jewish widow living in Georgia, gets into a car accident. Because of insurance purposes, her son (Dan Aykroyd) presses that she cannot drive well and should get a chauffeur, but Miss Daisy angrily refuses.

Her son hires a chauffeur anyway (Morgan Freeman), who Miss Daisy strongly despises. After accepting one another, Miss Daisy and the chauffeur develop a friendship that lasts the rest of their lives. Bruce Beresford does a fine job exploiting the Southern culture and replicating time periods, but much of the film seemed a little tongue in cheek, as if there was some imminent punchline.

This could have also been contributed from the catchy but comical musical score. The story's racial barrier commentary and friendship between Miss Daisy and the chauffeur are both moving and memorable.

Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman are phenomenal, but just like the rest of the film they were lacking sincerity. Dan Aykroyd is surprisingly talented in this non comedic role, and he proves himself as a dramatic actor.

Driving Miss Daisy is exceedingly cute and amiable, but it's without a sufficient amount of drama. 65/100.