Film Review – Driver’s Ed (2026)

      Driver’s Ed, 2026.

      Directed by Bobby Farrelly.

      Featuring Sam Nivola, Sophie Telegadis, Mohana Krishnan, Aidan Laprete, Molly Shannon, Kumail Nanjiani, Lilah Pate, Bri Giger, Alyssa Milano, Kevin Iannucci, Marley Aliah, Clayton Farris, Ella Stiller, Chelcie Lynn, Robert Walker Branchaud, Travis Przybylski, Thomas S. Beck, Brennen Suttle, Finn Harry, and Casey Murray.

      SYNOPSIS:

      A group of teenagers steals their school's driver’s ed car for a road trip to help a senior locate his college freshman girlfriend and win her back. The concept of a road comedy featuring a naïve teen traveling across the state to surprise his girlfriend at her college while trying to decipher the reasons behind their communication issues in a long-distance relationship, combined with Bobby Farrelly’s directing of Driver's Ed—boasting a poster reminiscent of early 2000s films proclaiming "UNRATED with raunchy content the MPAA didn't want you to see"—creates the expectation of one tone. However, this is cleverly turned on its head into a surprisingly heartwarming film that shows deep affection for its characters, often making the pursuit of humor secondary, with the comedic roles primarily reserved for the well-known adult cast.

      This focus has its advantages and disadvantages. At times, the film (based on a screenplay by Thomas Moffett) seems to lose sight of its comedic aims, being so engrossed in character development that it feels familiar, lacking innovation. The positive aspect of this is that Farrelly has shown glimpses of this tender approach in his solo directorial debut Champions (a typical sports comedy with emotional depth, featuring a team of mentally challenged young adult basketball players, which sounded like a dreadful idea given his previous works, yet largely avoided turning their circumstances into a punchline). This further highlights the reasons behind the split between him and his brother Peter Farrelly, shedding light on their contributions to their collaborative films and their evolving interests at this stage in their careers. While typically associated with raunchy humor, there are few traces of that in this film; Bobby seems keen to tell relatable stories about relatable individuals. In contrast, his brother tends to cling to gross-out juvenile humor, aside from projects like Green Book.

      As 18-year-old Jeremy (Sam Nivola) appears clueless about the growing distance with 18-year-old Samantha (Lilah Pate), a college freshman—who, despite their different educational stages, are the same age—he worries that she may not be taking their relationship seriously and could be flirting with another boy. This situation sets the stage for what could easily be a raunchy road-trip comedy.

      Jeremy frequently gets into trouble for texting Samantha, who is either too occupied or uninterested to respond; when she does reply, it's to suggest they need to discuss serious matters. A teacher compels one of his classmates, Evie (Sophie Telegadis), to read one of his desperate texts aloud, resulting in detention from the foul-mouthed Principal Fisher (Molly Shannon), who shows no sympathy for his personal struggles.

      Fortunately, the hapless substitute driver’s ed instructor, Mr. Rivers (Kumail Nanjiani), displays more understanding towards his students, including carefree stoner Yoshi (Aidan Laprete) and serious-minded nerd with career ambitions in the automobile sector, Aparna (Mohana Krishnan). Unbeknownst to Mr. Rivers, Jeremy ends up driving off with the car and classmates on an impromptu mission to meet and communicate with Samantha. Initially, no one is eager to join this journey (aside from Yoshi, who is nonchalant), but they eventually come around, learning from each other through a series of misadventures.

      Several contrived elements arise, like a photo of Samantha kissing another guy on social media that Evie knows about but decides not to mention to Jeremy to spare him further pain. As more twists occur and characters separate into groups, it becomes clear that Evie might be a better match for Jeremy, as she questions why someone with filmmaking talent would pass up an opportunity to learn from Martin Scorsese at NYU to pursue colleges similar to Samantha's. Meanwhile, Yoshi and Aparna, who initially appear one-dimensional, receive more focus as the story reveals the deeper struggles Yoshi faces, which have left him numb to caring about anything.

      Driver’s Ed loses some momentum in moments that feel forced, likely aiming to inject humor that seems absent elsewhere—such as the teenagers stumbling into a fast-food robbery or evading a school security guard. While the latter fits into the narrative, the comedy still struggles to emerge, except in instances capturing Kumail Nanjiani's absurdity with his arm in a cast. Ultimately, despite its heartfelt intentions, the writing and characters