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Riding in Cars with Boys
***1/2
December 7,
2001
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 12. 132
minutes. Directed by Penny Marshall. Written by Morgan Ward; from the novel
by Beverly D'Onofrio. Starring Drew Barrymore, Steve Zahn, Adam Garcia, Brittany
Murphy, James Woods, Lorraine Bracco.
We've all known teenage girls who have unexpectedly
become pregnant. Some of them let it destroy their lives, some of them cope,
and some of them adopt the situation well enough to let the glory out, and
become great parents as well as great people.
Beverly D'Onofrio did a bit of all those things.
She grew up in a small Connecticut town, the daughter of a police chief,
and got knocked up in 1967 at age fifteen. She kinda got pressured into marrying
the father of her baby, left her dreams of college behind, dealt with her
shiftless husband as he drifted into carelessness and drug abuse, drove herself
crazy trying to raise a kid while working for minimum wage and feeling sorry
for herself, and eventually came to grips with her life, forging a good
relationship with her son and in 1986 publishing an
autobiography.
"Riding in Cars with Boys" is a
wonderful, forgiving movie in which Drew Barrymore plays Beverly from ages
fourteen to thirty-five, and through convincing makeup and acting we believe
what we're seeing, and grow to love the protagonist, faults and all. I was
expecting a more polished and simple triumph-over-adversity chick-flick,
but no -- this movie is better than that, unfolding with the clumsiness and
complexity of real life.
I have not read Beverly D'Onofrio's autobiography,
and I suspect it might be a tad more one-sided than this film. Throughout
we see Beverly complain about how she deserves better than what she's got,
how she can't believe her situation, how greatness lies within her. She's
egocentric and irresponsible, unilaterally complaining about how her husband
isn't good enough for her and how she can't believe she's got so much
responsibility.
Nonetheless, Beverly wants to do her best, and
in the end that's exactly what she does. The heroes of sentimental dramatic
movies are hardly ever as flawed as the heroine of "Riding in Cars with Boys",
but in reality the best of us are weak, and at times can't help complaining
too much when we should just be getting on with things. Barrymore perfectly
captures a woman who isn't always right but is fundamentally good and sees
things through -- and that is both inspirational and relatable. Steve Zahn
is also impressive as Beverly's husband Ray; he's a born loser, whose screw-ups
get closer to unforgivable as the years go on, but it's impossible to deny
that he loves his wife and kid, and that he means it each time he promises
to try better.
"Riding in Cars with Boys" spans the toughest
years of a life and finds a lot of truth -- some of it uncomfortable, some
of it heartwarming. It's a surprising gem.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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