1989 - Driving Miss Daisy

Jon: In the history of the Oscars, Driving Miss Daisy is possibly the least worthy victory. Dead Poets Society, My Left Foot, and Born On the Fourth of July were all much better movies that year. This crime is reminiscent of the 1976 Oscars when perennial goon Sly Stallone won with Rocky. Anyway, the movie had a few moments where my pulse went above repose mode. Jessica Tandy is adequate as a miserable old bird, but in 1989 she was a miserable old bird, so I'm not sure how much acting was involved. Dan Aykroyd is laughably bad. Morgan Freeman shows his inexperience in the film world by trying too hard to be a lovable character. The story of an unlikely friendship between Tandy and Freeman is just not very interesting and extremely predictable. A crazy old woman is bound to make a racist comment at some point, and eventually she will wear down over time and become more approachable. I think the only redeeming quality in the movie is the score by Hans Zimmer, but that's about the only thing that would take your attention away from passing traffic. Grade: D

Lyndsay: I'm torn on this movie. I can see why it won this award in 1989 as the story is a significant one. Race relations are still an issue today, but 20 years ago this message of equality and friendship between a Jewish white woman and black man (in the South none-the-less) was an important one to share. On the other hand, however, it was kind of boring and the acting was over-done at times. Jessica Tandy was fabulous (nothing beats her in Fried Green Tomatoes, but this performance was up there), but Dan Aykroyd and Morgan Freeman were not so fabulous. Dan Aykroyd was just bad- not very believable as his character. Knowing that this was Morgan Freeman's break-out role, I give him a bit more credit, however his performance of a poor, illiterate black man seemed very cliche to me, especially his manner of speaking. Who knows though, it could have really been like that. Over all, a lovely message, but by today's standards, not very captivating. Grade: C+