History Film / LicenseToDrive

** ''Don't'' [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]] with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. They can make your life a living Hell.

-->'''Lady at the DMV''': You must've fuck with the Department of Motor Vehicles, Mr. Anderson. We can make your life a living hell.

** The lady at the DMV gives one.

** Les gives a beautiful one when his friend Charles suggests that confronting a drunk driver in a moving car might be dangerous.

* AnAesop:
** It's PlayedForLaughs, but this film demonstrates ''why'' you shouldn't drive drunk.

** Driver's license or not, don't take someone else's car without permission.

** Never put anyone in the trunk of a car.

** Driver's license or not, never take someone else's car without permission.
** Study and pay attention in class. Don't sleep through your Driver's Ed class and expect to pass the written exam.

* BadAssDriver: Crossed over with DrivesLikeCrazy and PlayedForLaughs. Les is able to drive his mother to the hospital in reverse, driving on the sidewalk, through oncoming traffic and perfectly parks the car at the hospital curb. His dad is so impressed that he ends up forgiving him for all the calamities he caused.

-->'''Charles/Dean:''' OH SHIT!!!
** Upon returning home, Les' father and Les have them in fairly rapid succession, starting with Robert realizing the Caddy has been wrecked, followed by Les realizing how much pain he's in for, then realizing that his mother is in labor.

-->'''Dean''':Are you telling us that you left the house on your first night with a license without a license?
-->'''Les''': No, Dean, I'm not telling you that. ''(sighs)'' Look guys... I failed my exam.
-->'''Dean/Charles''': You '''what?!'''

-->'''Robert Anderson''': Let me tell you something, buddy-boy: you are ''damn'' lucky your mother didn't go into labor tonight!
-->'''Mrs. Anderson''': Robert! I ''am'' in labor!
-->'''Robert Anderson''': '''DAMN LUCKY!''' (beat) '''WHAT?!'''

-->'''Robert Anderson:''' Something wrong with your bed, Les?
-->''(Les comes out of his hiding place under the car's dash)''
-->'''Robert Anderson:''' Mind explaining to me what sized shark was responsible for this?
-->'''Les Anderson:''' Well, it wa--
-->'''Robert Anderson:''' No! I don't want to know! I don't want to know! Save it for the Judge! Do you have any idea what you've done tonight, Les? What this means to your future in this house and on this planet?!
-->'''Les Anderson:''' [[ThisIsGonnaSuck I have an idea.]]
-->'''Robert Anderson:''' NO YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY! YOU CAN'T EVEN ''BEGIN TO IMAGINE!!''
-->''(Robert begins pacing around the wrecked Caddy while Les fearfully moves to avoid him)''
-->'''Robert Anderson:''' [[ToThePain We had a college fund set aside for you-- that's gone now. You had free room and board, two trusting parents, and a social life. It's all gone. You had a TV, a stereo, a baseball mitt, a tennis racket, a skateboard, a bicycle--]]''[[LargeHam ALL GONE!]]'' [[ToThePain And-- you even had]] ''[[ToThePain sunlight]]'' [[ToThePain and a]] ''[[ToThePain window]] ''[[ToThePain in your room!]]

-->'''Les:''' I'm dead. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck I'm so dead they're gonna have to bury me twice.]]
-->''(While driving, the Drunk Driver removes several small bottles from his pockets and lines them up on the dashboard while listening to Frank Sinatra's "That's Life")''
-->'''Drunk Driver:''' Looks like I'm in for the night.
-->''(after jumping the Caddy)''
-->'''Drunk Driver:''' Whew! What airline is this?!

-->'''Robert Anderson''': I know my father. The last thing in the world he's going to be worried about is his car.
-->''(opens the door)''
-->'''Robert Anderson''': Hi Dad.
-->'''Grandpa''': Where's my Caddy?
-->'''Robert Anderson''': ''(beat)'' LES DID IT!
-->''(Robert hides behind Les)''
-->'''Robert Anderson''': It was Les, I didn't...

* HiddenDepths: Dean comes across as a slacker but he turns out be quite capable at paint-less dent removal and straightens out the Caddy's collapsed hood. He's also the one to encourage his friend to ask Mercedes out.

-->'''Robert Anderson:''' [[ToThePain We had a college fund set aside for you-- that's gone now. You had free room and board, two trusting parents, and a social life. It's all gone. You had a TV, a stereo, a baseball mitt, a tennis racket, a skateboard, a bicycle--]]''[[ToThePain ALL GONE!]]'' [[ToThePain And-- you even had]] ''[[ToThePain sunlight]]'' [[ToThePain and a]] ''[[ToThePain window]] ''[[ToThePain in your room!]]

* CoolCar: The Cadillac, prior to all the damage it sustains, is an incredibly cool car to the protagonists. 16 years old with just 20,000 miles on it. It has a set of gulf clubs in the huge trunk (bigger than Dean's bedroom) and a [[AMFMCharacterization cassette stereo that prefers Frank Sinatra and tolerates modern songs like Nia Peeples "Trouble" and Pebbles "Mercedes Boy" but ends up eating Les's "Love Songs" mixtape in favor of one of its own tapes to help woo Mercedes.]] There are plenty of other cool cars too including Paulo's Ferrari 308, a yellow Iroc-Z Camaro, the punk's GTO and various hot rods seen at Archies.

** Followed immediately by Dean freaking out when Mercedes briefly regains consciousness and states she's going to throw up, while laying on top of Dean.
** At the sobriety checkpoint, Charles has one and thinks they're going to get arrested and locked up.

* BrilliantButLazy: If Les' road test performance and his rapport with Mercedes is anything to go by, he is just as intelligent, capable and charming as his twin sister Natalie. In fact, during their respective road tests, we see that both siblings are quite confident, handle their tasks competently, and develop a rapport with their respective proctors. Had he not slept through the Driver's Ed course, he'd likely get the same perfect score on his written test as his twin sister and avoid ''a lot'' of the problems that he runs into.

* ThePreciousPreciousCar: The car is Les's grandfather's 1972 Cadillac Sedan De Ville, which he left behind while he was going out for the weekend with the family's BMW. The [[ASimplePlan simple plan]] was for Les to just take his girlfriend Mercedes out for a ride, a couple hours long. By the end of the film, the Cadillac has been completely wrecked in a demolition-derby ride through Los Angeles, up to and including being stolen by a drunk driver (who pukes inside of the car) and driving in reverse to the hospital by Les to help his mother deliver a baby (and the car then gets flattened by a falling girder). [[spoiler:Grandpa didn't have any better luck himself, either, and he hands the keys to the BMW and the towed remains of the car in the epilogue.]]

* BrilliantButLazy: If Les' road test performance and his rapport with Mercedes is anything to go by, he is just as intelligent, capable and charming as his twin sister Natalie. [[NotSoDifferent In fact, during their respective road tests, we see that both siblings are quite confident, handle their tasks competently, and develop a rapport with their respective proctors.]] Had he not slept through the Driver's Ed course, he'd likely get the same perfect score on his written test as his twin sister and avoid ''a lot'' of the problems that he runs into.

* BigWhat: Robert caps off his tirade against Les with one.

-->'''Les:''' I'm dead. I'm so dead they're gonna have to bury me twice.

* PoliceAreUseless: The two police officers at the sobriety checkpoint get an EpicFail for this one. When Les and a drunk driver are caught, the two officers are called away due to a riot at Allied Tech. This is ''after'' catching a drunk driver, catching Les driving without a license ''and'' finding Les's date in the trunk of the car. They should ''all have been placed under arrest on the spot''. Instead, one officer LampShades how lucky Les is and runs off. HilarityEnsues when the drunk driver is also left behind by the guy's partner (who left him unattended and clearly forgot about him), mistakes the Caddy for a Maserati, and drives off in it.

* CoolCar: The Cadillac, prior to all the damage it sustains, is an incredibly cool car to the protagonists. 16 years old with just 20,000 miles on it. It has a set of gulf clubs in the huge trunk (bigger than Dean's bedroom) and a [[AMFMCharacterization cassette stereo that prefers Frank Sinatra and tolerates modern songs like "Trouble" and "Mercedes Boy" but absolutely ''hates'' Les's "Love Songs" mixtape.]] There are plenty of other cool cars too including Paulo's Ferrari 308, a yellow Iroc-Z Camaro, the punk's GTO and various hot rods seen at Archies.

* CoolCar: The Cadillac, prior to all the damage it sustains, is an incredibly cool car to the protagonists. 16 years old with just 20,000 miles on it. It has a set of gulf clubs in the huge trunk (bigger than Dean's bedroom) and a cassette stereo that prefers Frank Sinatra, tolerates the modern song "Trouble" but absolutely ''hates'' Les's "Love Songs" mixtape. There are plenty of other cool cars too including Paulo's Ferrari 308, a yellow Iroc-Z Camaro, the punk's GTO and various hot rods seen at Archies.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Natalie's "Commie" boyfriend Carl. For starters, for all his talk bout how the automobile is a tool of oppression, he has one himself. For another, he leaves his Citroen 2CV parked at the Anderson's home while ''she''--a kid who just got her driver's license ''that day'' and is inexperienced--drives them to the protest in her mother's Audi, which ends up being towed along with the other protester's vehicles. He also puts her--a ''16-year-old kid''--in harm's way by taking her to a protest that rapidly turns into a riot (fortunately, they're both arrested and removed from the scene before that happens).

* PrecisionFStrike: Les gives a beautiful one when his friend Charles suggests that confronting a drunk driver in a moving car might be dangerous.

* BrilliantButLazy: If Les' road test performance and his rapport with Mercedes is anything to go by, he is just as intelligent, capable and charming as his twin sister Natalie. [[NotSoDifferent In fact, during their respective road tests, we see that both suiblings are quite confident, handle their tasks competently, and develop a rapport with their respective proctors.]] Had he not slept through the Driver's Ed course, he'd likely get the same perfect score on his written test as his twin sister and avoid ''a lot'' of the problems that he runs into.

* ThePreciousPreciousCar: The car is Les's grandfather's 1972 Cadillac Sedan De Ville, which he left behind while he was going out for the weekend with the family's BMW. The [[ASimplePlan simple plan]] was for Les to just take his girlfriend Mercedes out for a ride, a couple hours long. By the end of the film, the Cadillac has been completely wrecked in a demolition-derby ride through Los Angeles, up to and including being stolen by a drunk driver (who pukes inside of the car) and driving in reverse to the hospital by Les to help his mother deliver a baby (and the car then gets flattened by a falling girder). Grandpa didn't have any better luck himself, either, and he hands the keys to the BMW and the towed remains of the car in the epilogue.

* WatchThePaintJob: Les borrows his grandfather's prized 1972 Cadillac without permission, and during the course of a very wild night, it sustains major damage. Inverted when the grandfather laughs off the damage because he had also destroyed the BMW he had borrowed from Les's father.
-->'''Grandpa:''' (through laughter) I had a little trouble with your car too!

* BrilliantButLazy: If Les' road test performance and his rapport with Mercedes is anything to go by, he is just as intelligent, capable and charming as his twin sister Natalie. [[NotSoDifferent In fact, during their respective road tests, we see that both suiblings are quite confident, handle their tasks competently, and develop a rapport with their respective proctors.]] Had he not slept through the Driver's Ed course, he'd likely get the same perfect score on his written test and avoid ''a lot'' of the problems he runs into.