Review of License to Drive (1988) by Grayson W — 24 Mar 2017

I've always been of the opinion that 80s movies, even if they might not even be good, possess a certain kind of nostalgic charm that, realistically speaking, is unique to that era. From the cheeseball music, to the fashion, to the teen idols.

All of this certainly helps make the films from this era a lot easier to watch even if they may not be that good to begin with. I'm not saying that the 80s didn't have its great films, because they did, but a lot of the mainstream fare at the time was a little more casually driven and not necessarily concerned about quality.

And, again, I'm not casting a wide net on the entire decade, there were some quality movies that came out during the 80s. Breakfast Club, Back to the Future, Nightmare on Elm Street, Ghostbusters, The Burbs and Angel Heart immediately come to mind.

There are many more, but I can't keep going on with examples or else this review would never be done before I have dinner later tonight. But, since we're talking about quality, let's move on to this movie.

Let's just be straight up here, this isn't a particularly good movie if you look at things objectively. This is a movie that, to me, at the time, was made simply to cash in on the fact that Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, known as the Two Coreys creatively enough, were major teen idols at the time.

I wasn't a teen girl from the 80s, I was born the year this movie came out, but I don't understand the whole finding Corey Feldman attractive thing. Maybe Haim was too much of a pretty boy and some of them liked Feldman's bad boy thing, but I still don't get it.

I'm a straight man, but I can sort of see how millions of girls were crushing on Haim at the time. Why the fuck am I even talking about this? As it stands, this movie didn't really do much for me.

The first half of it is, honestly, kinda boring and not particularly funny. Things do pick up after Les fails the test and he takes his grandfather's car, without permission, to go on this date with the girl of his dreams.

Naturally speaking, given that Les wasn't even supposed to be out driving, especially not his grandpa's car, everything goes absolutely wrong. Murphy's law is in full effect here. Whatever you can think of that could go wrong, when you're taking a car you shouldn't take, will go wrong.

I will say that, after Les' date passes out drunk and he hangs out with his buddies, the film has a certain manic energy as they keep getting into absurd hi-jinks. But that's all the movie is, a collection of skits without a real narrative thread holding it together.

And there wouldn't be much of a problem if I found the skits to be any good, but they're really not particularly interesting or entertaining. But you take that into consideration with the fact that there's no story and the movie just falls apart.

Maybe that's a bit harsh to say, it doesn't necessarily fall apart, but the flaws are fare more apparent. The acting is perfectly decent all things considered, but the Coreys weren't exactly known as thespians of the highest quality.

Though, realistically speaking, movies like this don't require high-quality acting. The film has its moments, mostly in the second half, but the lack of consistent comedy, its slapstick-y elements and no narrative keep this movie from being just OK at best.

Maybe I'm being considerate due to its nostalgic charm but, while the movie wasn't good, it was at least watchable. You're not gonna get absolutely anything from it, but it won't make you pull your hair out.

I still can't give this a recommendation though. Watch if you must, but The Lost Boys is still the peak of Corey Haim and Corey Feldman's collaborations.