Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)

Riding in Cars with Boys achieves broad appeal as a tearjerker laced with hardscrabble humor. In the crowd-pleasing hands of director Penny Marshall, Beverly Donofrio's bestselling memoir loses much of its real-life gravity, but its rich humanity remains in abundance, especially since Drew Barrymore plays Donofrio with effortless charm. The movie spans 20 years, from Bev's pregnancy at 15 in 1963 (actually 17 in the book), through welfare parenthood with a heroin-addicted husband (Steve Zahn), and semi-adult resentment as her teenaged son (Adam Garcia) takes priority over her ultimate goal of finishing college and publishing her memoir. For all of Barrymore's winning tenacity, it's Zahn's goodhearted loser who gives the film its genuine soul while lending an edge to Marshall's cloying sentiment. The material begs for the subtler touch of James L. Brooks (who produced this and Marshall's more delicate hit Big), but that won't stop this movie from attracting a legion of admirers. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

Riding anywhere with Drew is always a joy...

My wife loves this movie, and I have to say that I find it quite enjoyable myself. Surprisingly, `Riding in Cars with Boys' is a decent dramatic comedy that touches the heart and pleases the viewer. I say surprisingly because it never generated any buzz and thus became a forgotten film. I love Drew Barrymore; I find her as talented as she is beautiful and I can't really get enough of her. Here she shines brightly, as always, and adds layers to the film. In fact, the acting across the board is extremely strong here and is a huge selling point. The film has a few drawbacks; especially the ending, but there are enough highlights to make up for a few disappointing turns.

The film tells the true story of young Beverly D'Onofrio who wound up pregnant at 15, married to a loser and living the life she never dreamed she'd live. Beverly meets Ray after her failed attempt at seducing the handsome jock at a party turns embarrassing and humiliating. Ray defends her and she is instantly smitten. Of course we know what comes next, and once her parents find out she is pregnant she is forced to marry Ray. Beverly wants to go to school, get her degree, become a writer; but being married and raising a child damper that drastically. What makes things worse is when she discovers that her husband is abusing drugs and refuses to get help. Beverly soon realizes that she has to help herself, and her son, and while things may not always be perfect she tries her hardest to make them work.

Of course some of the facts have been tainted to add dramatic effect. Beverly wasn't 15 when she gave birth to her son, she was 17; and she was not a high school dropout, as she is portrayed as in the film; but this is Hollywood and Hollywood likes to make things seem as hopeless as possible in order to garner the audiences deepest sympathies. It works here.

Barrymore is wonderful as Beverly, especially in her teenage years. She develops a very believable and sympathetic character that is distressed, overwhelmed, overjoyed and scared all at the same time. She has impeccable comedic delivery, but what makes her performance so warm and enjoyable is her ability to add the right amount of dramatic flare to her characters every action. Steve Zahn was a total surprise for me. I generally am not too impressed with his work but I found him to be flawless here; especially his `goodbye' scene with his young son. I actually cried it was so touching. Brittany Murphy has been on my radar for a while and she delivers yet again here as Fay, Beverly's best friend; and of course the likes of James Woods and Lorraine Bracco are nothing but brilliant; as to be expected. Rosie Perez has a memorable cameo towards the end of the film as well.

Adam Garcia is one of my disappointments. His acting is decent but his narrative is annoying; in my opinion. The narrative though is nothing compared to the jip I felt when the credits began to roll. The film is so well constructed throughout, giving us a complete look at Beverly's life leading up to the conclusion and then it just lets go of everything without tying up those loose ends properly. You can feel the tension between Beverly and her teenage son Jason throughout but in the final frames when he finally confronts her there is no real resolution. They give it a very `Hollywood' resolution, painting a happy ending far too quickly for it to be believable or even understandable. They could have easily added a good ten minutes or so to flesh that out.

The ending aside, `Riding in Cars with Boys' is a very enjoyable ride. I recommend this to any fan of Barrymore, for it's one of her finest turns, but also to any fan of the genre. It is not the best of its breed but it is warm and touching and uplifting; a film that aspires to be great, settles on very good, and manages to be much better than expected. May 27, 2008

Pretty good

I didn't plan on watching this, but it turned out to be one of those slow evenings and quite frankly there was nothing else on. To my surprise I found myself drawn into the story. Mainly because our heroine, Bev, was certainly a flawed character and was unable to see her contribution to the direction her life took. Though I was a little confused in the begining to how old she was. Not until it was revealed that she was riding with her son and not a boyfriend did the clouds finally part-though it was pretty laughable given Drew Barrymore didn't even look twenty-five herself next to her "son". However, for the most part, this film was interesting but I'm unclear the point of this journey. When Bev gives the speech about how her son saved her, I'm not sure I believed her or believed that she believed it. When did this revealation occur to her? And when she whines to her father in the car, it's clear to me that even then she doesn't believe that she screwed up her son's life. But overall, it's a descent story-especially if there's nothing else on. June 15, 2007

Riding in Cars with Boys

My wife and I find the storyline to be realistic. The characters portrayed people who were believable in spite of their dysfunctions.
This movie has been added to our collection of movies to be viewed often. March 9, 2007

A True Account of a Young Mother's Life

This is the heart-warming, tear-jerking, yet still comical tale of a young girl named Beverly growing up during the 1950s; a time when sexual promiscuity was forbidden and, should an "accident" occur, the young couple wed right away.

And that is what happens when Beverly meets Ray. Forced to put aside her dreams of college and becoming a writer, Beverly and Ray wed and then along comes Jason, their son. Beverly finds herself still holding on to her dreams while trying to tame Ray into fatherhood and raise her baby boy. Needless to say, the marriage does last but your children are always your children; thus the story focuses on Beverly and Jason.

Anyone who has had a child at a young age, wed or unwed, can relate to this tale of lost dreams and life's struggles told from Jason's point of view. Essentially, it is the tale of how young mothers and their offspring grow-up together; how they depend on and learn from one another.

To me, the most touching part of this movie came with the confrontation between Beverly and grown-up Jason soon after Jason sees his father, Ray, after many years of absence from his life. I won't spoil it telling what occurs, but it is the most truthful yet touching part of the movie.

Definitely a chick flick. Guys won't get it under any circumstance. Ladies, save it for a night that you need to laugh through tears. August 30, 2006

Wonderfully Acted!!!

I really enjoy this film because despite that is sad its also very funny.This is a movie about the outside world, about what its really like to be a mother at young age. I recommend it especially to young teenagers that think being a mother would be EASY. When in reality its not!! April 21, 2006

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