Driving Miss Daisy

There is, perhaps, an object lesson in this film, particularly for the “justice warriors” of today: a greater impact might be had through gentler persuasion, rather than shouting and canceling. It is easy, and superficial, to look at this story--and particularly Morgan Freeman’s performance--and see only caricature and stereotyping. But the road to respect, in all dimensions, starts with accepting people at their face value. That’s the journey that Daisy and Hoke go through here, and thanks largely to the performances of Freeman and Jessica Tandy--both of whom inhabit their characters to perfection--they effectively carry the audience along with them. It may be easy to dismiss this movie; it has often been treated as something of a punchline over the last 30 or so years. But if you give it a chance, you can see why such a deceptively low-key movie was appreciated in the first place.