59
Metascore
24 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80The GuardianJordan HoffmanThe GuardianJordan Hoffman[A] touching, insightful and, at the end of the day, extremely well-meaning film.
- Hungry for some grownup entertainment? Take Learning to Drive for a spin.
- 67The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangIt has warmth, it has flashes of insight, it even has moments of wit, all it really lacks is edge — which it lacks in large, whopping, huge amounts.
- 63New York PostKyle SmithNew York PostKyle SmithThe movie putters along as softly as Wendy drives. Despite its lack of narrative horsepower, though, its character sketches are pleasing. And amusing.
- 58The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonAt least "Elegy" has some passion. Learning To Drive has harmless sweetness, many revealing speeches about life, and a Kingsley performance that shades strongly into a “Robin Williams as a straight-faced foreigner” routine.
- 50VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangIt’s no stretch for Kingsley to project stiff dignity and forthrightness, but that familiarity works against him here, despite his every effort to give the character a human pulse. Clarkson, expert at bringing authenticity to the most inauthentic material, gets to show far more range.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenWith its softball insights about midlife reinvention and its quasi-illuminating glances across the cultural and class divide, the movie takes its place, a la the similarly contrived The Visitor, on the spectrum of It’s Never Too Late character studies.
- 40Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlThe filmmakers' hearts might be in the right place, but the film's doesn't kick in until well after you might already have declared it dead.
- 40Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternGoes by pleasantly enough as you come to understand where it’s headed, but this romantic comedy, directed by Isabel Coixet from a screenplay by Sarah Kernochan, wears out its welcome, and energy, through unswerving conformity to its dramatic scheme.
- 38Slant MagazineClayton DillardSlant MagazineClayton DillardInstead of using the titular metaphor as a means to seek deeper, darker ends, Isabel Coixet proceeds to restate it over and over again.