Learning How to Drive
2025 · 10m · USA
Directed by Tyler Cunningham
Genres: comedy
Bettina, a recent Los Angeles transplant and struggling actress-turned-babysitter, must chauffeur a precocious preteen named Wynn to a birthday party in Laurel Canyon — despite barely knowing how to operate a car.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Cunningham finds real stakes in the smallest embarrassments — the adult who can't drive is a perfect vessel for the LA transplant anxiety we all pretend isn't real, and Alicia Silverstone's casting choice is doing quiet thematic work about who gets to coast through this city.
Struggling-actress babysitter terrified of LA freeways, Alicia Silverstone in support. Worst Person comparison is a stretch but the freeway-as-set-piece detail is specific. Promising small comedy.
The terror of merging onto an LA freeway as fully-realized comic set piece doubling as character crucible — that's micro-physical comedy in the Support the Girls register, and Alicia Silverstone in supporting is a meaningful curatorial signal. Promising.
Festivals
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2025