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 Nick (Hunter Johnson) is a teenage loner who has no connection to his alcoholic and removed parents. He’s obsessed by ‘80’s band, Crash Course, that has the last show of their reunion tour in Los Angeles, over 2000 miles away from his home in Chicago. When his parents refused to permit him to find a way there legally, he decides that the best way to get there is to steal the car of his driver’s ed teacher, Mr. Jackson (John Snipes). However, when Cole (Jillian Riley), a teenage girl with her own reasons to get to LA, finds out where he’s going, she insists on coming along. Taken aback by the request, Nick is infuriated when he realizes that his plans have been overheard by Peter (Kyle J. Miller), a nerdy teen who also claims to need to go to LA. Although unwilling to team up with people he doesn’t know, Nick eventually realizes he can’t do this solo and, if he wants any chance of getting to LA in time to see the concert, he’ll have to get their help.
After an Ocean’s Eleven-amount of planning and tracking their driver’s ed teacher’s routine, they’re able to drug him, leave him at a convenience store run by one of their buddies, and head off on their illegal road trip across the country. Along the way, they’ll slowly but surely discover the reasons each of them is making the trip and start to discover that none of them are as alone as they think they are.
While there’s no avoiding comparisons to ‘80’s movies like 16 Candles, Licensed to Drive, Pretty in Pink, and Breakfast Club, the team behind Driver’s Ed Mutiny openly embraces such comparisons with an early jibe from the driver’s ed instructor where he refers to Nick as “Judd Nelson.” (Judd Nelson played the shaggy haired loner in Breakfast Club. Actor Hunter Johnson does indeed bear a resemblance to the teenaged Nelson.) I think their willingness to make this film into a coming of age comedy that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel too much is charming and intelligent.
The writing for Driver’s Ed Mutiny was really quite enjoyable and well thought out. In fact, I couldn’t help but wonder if writer/director Brad Hansen had read Brian McDonald’s book, Invisible Ink, before writing the script. He really played up a lot of the principles he brings up in his book about your protagonists’ journey and where theme should trump logic.
The overall character development throughout the film was well paced, the actors were compelling (especially Jillian Riley’s often emotionally divided character of Cole), and the story arcs were satisfying.
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