Crimes:
- Putting Corey Haim and Corey Feldman in the same movie and hoping lightning would strike
- Staging a climax involving an extended scene of "hilarious" drunk driving
- Presenting a retro, '50s-style drive-in restaurant with scantily clad roller-skating waitresses as the epitome of late-'80s cool
Defenders: Director Greg Beeman, writer Neil Tolkin
Tone of commentary: Variable. Current Smallville executive producer Beeman sounds giddy at the chance to revisit his first feature film. Tolkin, on the other hand, sounds faintly embarrassed. (A natural reaction, given that he's subsequently penned scripts for Richie Rich and Jury Duty.) While neither is under the illusion that License To Drive is a great film, they're under the alternate illusion that it isn't terrible.
What went wrong: Neither commentator likes the wardrobe, which Beeman blames on an absence of gay advisors. (Also, Feldman was allowed to pick his own clothes.) Maybe they were just the victims of bad reviews: "When Siskel and Ebert reviewed the movie," Tolkin says, "the only thing Siskel could talk about was how the coffee-cup level [in a driving scene] kept changing." Beeman replies, "But we got one thumb up… And that was a moment of pride I had."
Comments on the cast: Beeman: "I'm so glad we had Carol Kane on this movie. Although I must say, Neil, she did cry quite a bit."
Tolkin: "What about?"
Beeman: "I don't know. Lots of different things. Lots of different things were cried over."
Also, when Beeman says that Feldman wanted to ad-lib a big speech, Tolkin immediately says, "Of course. He couldn't remember his lines." This led to a bit of a "director/actor tussle." But…
Inevitable dash of pretension: "He nails it!" In fact, Tolkin wrote the part with Feldman in mind. "You wrote it for him and he captured the essence," Beeman exults.
Commentary in a nutshell: Beeman: "I'm very proud of that shot, that dolly over to Feldman… I mean Haim."