Thanks to the friendship with a driving instructor, a middle-ages book critic who is shattered when her husband Ted leaves her learns to take control of her life. And he also learns how to adjust to his new life after an arranged marriage.
The film also provides an interesting view into Sikh culture, illustrating in colorful detail the various rituals that inform the devout driving instructor's personal life.
Clarkson, in particular, is spot-on; her character unfolds gradually into the serenity that comes with hard-earned self-sufficiency. And the gentle, low-key humour belies some spiky observations about multicultural America.
"Learning to Drive" would be an entirely inert expedition were it not for Clarkson, who plays against Kingsley's sentinel of propriety with her signature radiance and birdlike gracefulness.
"Learning to Drive" is precisely the sort of adult-themed, intelligent and heartfelt film it wants to be, with Clarkson and Kingsley wonderfully on point.
