Themes: Mothers and Sons, Single Parents, Crumbling Marriages
Main Cast: Drew Barrymore, Steve Zahn, Brittany Murphy, Adam Garcia, Lorraine Bracco, Sara Gilbert, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 132 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Penny Marshall directed this serio-comic story, based on the memoir by Beverly Donofrio, about a young woman who finds her life radically altered by an event from her teen years. Born in 1950, Beverly (Drew Barrymore) grew up bright and ambitious in a working-class neighborhood in Connecticut; her father (James Woods) was a tough but good-hearted cop with an understanding ear for his daughter's problems, and her mother (Lorraine Bracco) was a nervous woman eager to imagine the worst. From an early age, Beverly displays a keen intelligence and an interest in literature, and she dreams of going to college in New York and becoming a writer. However, she also develops a precocious interest in boys, and at 15 finds herself madly in love with a boy from her high school. However, an attempt to get his attention leads to an embarassing incident at a party, and Ray Hasek (Steve Zahn), a sweet but thick-headed 18-year-old, steps forward to defend her. Beverly and Ray end up making out, and after one thing leads to another, Beverly discovers she's pregnant. Telling Ray is only marginally less difficult than informing her parents, and at 16, Beverly is a wife and mother. Against the odds, Beverly is determined to still finish high school and go on to college, but that goal becomes more difficult with time, especially after Beverly's marriage begins to fall apart; while Ray tries to do the right thing, he has trouble holding a job, and circumstances become all the more difficult when Beverly learns her husband is addicted to heroin. Riding in Cars With Boys also stars Brittany Murphy as Beverly's best friend Fay; Beverly's son Jason is played, at various points in his life, by Adam Garcia (age 20), Logan Lerman (age eight), Cody Arens (age six), and Logan Arens (age three). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Penny Marshall - Director, Lawrence Jordan - Editor, Morgan Upton - Executive Producer, Hans Zimmer - Composer (Music Score), Heitor Pereira - Composer (Music Score), James L. Brooks - Producer, Laurence Mark - Producer, Sara Colleton - Producer, Richard Sakai - Producer, Julie Ansell - Producer, Morgan Upton - Screenwriter, Morgan Ward - Screenwriter, George De Titta, Jr. - Set Decorator, Beverly Donofrio - Book Author
Appropriately enough for a film that spans two decades in the life of a woman who becomes a mother at 15, the soundtrack to Penny Marshall's Riding in Cars With Boys presents pop highlights from the '60s through the '80s, including the Everly Brothers' "All I Have to Do Is Dream," the Five Stairsteps' "O-o-h Child," and Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." The Chiffons' "One Fine Day," Skeeter Davis' "End of the World," and Big Brother & the Holding Company's "Piece of My Heart" are some of the other highlights from this entertaining but somewhat predictable collection. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
Intelligent but naive Beverly Donofrio (Barrymore), a teenager when the movie begins in the early 1960s, dreams of becoming a writer. An unplanned pregnancy at age 15 and unsuccessful marriage to her heroin- addicted and dim-witted high-school boyfriend means that her aspirations must take a back seat to other responsibilities, while she watches her classmates' lives move forward on schedule. Later - older, wiser, and with a better knowledge of herself - she puts her delayed career plans into action. The story takes place in Wallingford, Connecticut in the 1960's-80's.
Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "A film like this is refreshing and startling in the way it cuts loose from formula and shows us confused lives we recognize ... This movie is closer to the truth: A lot depends on what happens to you, and then a lot depends on how you let it affect you".[1] In his review for The New York Times, Stephen Holden praised Steve Zahn's performance: "It is hard to imagine what Riding in Cars With Boys would have been without Mr. Zahn's brilliantly nuanced and sympathetic portrayal of Ray, who goes through more changes than Beverly".[2]USA Today gave the film three out of four stars and found that the "strength of the movie lies in these performances and in the situational humor, though ultimately the ending is disappointing, attempting to wrap up loose ends far too neatly".[3]
Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C+" rating and Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote, "Which is to say, every scene is bumpered with actorly business and production detail that says more about nostalgia for the pop culture of earlier American decades than about the hard socioeconomic truths of being a poor, young, undereducated parent".[4] In her review for the Washington Post, Rita Kempley criticized Drew Barrymore's performance: "Barrymore, a delightful comic actress, has the spunk for the role but can't do justice to the complexities of Beverly's conflicted personality. So she comes off as abrasive and neglectful as opposed to headstrong and ambitious, winning no empathy for this sour single mom".[5] Edward Guthmann also had problems with Barrymore's performance in his review for the San Francisco Chronicle: "She never relaxes, never surrenders to the character, but instead tries to justify her and to make us like her despite her selfishness and poor mothering. American actors as a rule are terrified of playing unsympathetic characters, particularly when they've gained the celebrity and box-office appeal that Barrymore has".[6] In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan criticized the film's direction: "At home with the comedy, even if it is too broad, the director brings next to nothing to the serious scenes; they simply sit there on the screen, empty and forlorn".[7]
