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The Movie: The life of a teenager is a trying one. From the time you turn 13 or 14 through to the time you graduate high school is one of the toughest times in your life but it's also one of the best. The events that occur during those years whether you like or not shape the rest of your life. Take my life for example. When I entered high school I was a shy person with no real outgoing character traits I tended to hang by myself and I worked at a local comic book store. Comics were my life. I walked, talked and lived comic books. Towards the middle of eight grade through drama class I began to go for a class clown persona and there was nothing I wouldn't do for attention. I immediately fell in with the "in crowd" and before you know it everyone knew who I was. In class people wanted to work with me and things were all good. This would continue through 9th and 10th grade. 11th grade signalled the remaining change as I began to become involved with the school's computer network and my movie going picked up. It started slowly at first but before you know it I was going to 2 or 3 movies a week and watching any number of videos. I became known as the crazy movie loving, computer genius a reputation I was all too happy to have. I was something and everyone in the school knew me. I had some close friends and I was on good terms with the "in crowd" and as an added bonus the staff respected me. There was only one piece missing from the puzzle. Without going into further detail the puzzle was finally completed on prom night and I left high school a totally different person then I entered. If you asked me 5 years ago if I was going to be writing movie reviews or be involved so much on the Internet, I would have told you that you were crazy. Now I see how my actions and choices have led me to my current place. The purpose of High school isn't really to learn about social studies or science or even math its really a chance to learn about yourself and to begin to become the ones true self. Ever since the early age of ten Beverly Donofrio (Drew Barrymore) has been interested in boys. During the holiday season when asked what she wants for Christmas she tells her father (James Woods) that she wants a bra to enhance what she's got. He's a bit surprised because he thought that she wanted a bike. He says she far to young and that a bra is out of a question. Fast forward a couple of years and Bev is now in high school. She has a good friend who she talks about everything to by the name of Faye (Brittany Murphy) . Faye and Bev are both single and boy crazy while there other friend Tina (Sara Gilbert) has already settled into a relationship. One night at a party Bev decides to make her move on the boy of her dreams, a popular jock by the name of Sky. Bev who has a flare for writing goes up to him and reads him a poem that she wrote. He laughs at her and an embarrassed Bev runs upstairs to the washroom to hide. The washroom isn't empty though as a high school dropout friend of the party host is upstairs checking his hair. The guy tries to console Bev and they get to talking. He introduces himself as Ray (Steve Zahn) and asks why she is crying. She explains her story and Ray goes downstairs to defend Bev's honor and dignity against Sky. This of course leads to a fight and Ray manages to trick Sky into losing. Sky friend's begin to get ready to fight back so Ray, Bev and Faye and the random boy she picked up leave the party. Ray offers to drive Bev home but she wants to go to local make out point. At the point during a routine patrol drive Bev's father the cop catches Bev and Ray in the act. Dad hauls Bev into the station and during the interrogation she explains that she'd never go past second base on the first date. Bev get's in a world of trouble but it's nothing compared what to will happen next. Over the next few days Bev begins to feel sick and learns that she's pregnant. She debates how she is going to tell her parents who will no doubt be upset. She finally decides to write them a letter and read it aloud. When she finally gets the courage to do this their reaction is as expected is shock. They explain that she has to do what's right and that is continue going to school and marry the father. When she tells Ray he immediately proposes but she doesn't want to marry him. After reluctantly accepting the proposal the two are married and Jason is born. At the wedding Faye announces that she too is expecting a child. Bev has a kid at 15 and does correspondence to try and get her high school degree. Meanwhile Ray isn't always the most reliable husband as he often comes home drunk, or disoriented and usually forgets important events. After Bev completes school she wants to make something of her life and become a writer so she applies for a number of scholarships. On the most important day of Bev's life Ray isn't where he's supposed to be and Bev is forced to take Jason to the interview. The interview doesn't go very well as young Jason is always distracting his mother. When Ray does come home, Bev is very upset. Sometime later at one of her son's birthday parties a friend from high school stops by and invites Bev to go to California to go to school on the states dime. She thinks this is a good idea and begins to get money together to move the family there. When she almost has enough saved Ray admits that he stole all the money to use on his drug addiction. This is the final straw and she kicks Ray out and tells him not to go near Jason. Her hopes and dreams awash she has to start over and find another way to afford college. Will Bev overcome the many obstacles to go college and live her life long dream of becoming a writer. "Riding in Cars with Boys" is based on the novel of the same name by Beverly Donofrio. It's her true coming of age story that follows her from the age of 10 onwards into adulthood. There is no doubt that Bev's life was anything but perfect and that her extraordinary efforts carried her through. She overcame the staggering odds against her to complete high school and care for her child. I don't claim to be an expert on teen pregnancy or even teen parenthood. Nor do I really have a stance on the issue. Back in the 60's and 70's it was frowned upon more then it is today. I've only really had one experience with teen pregnancy and that is a girl I knew in school who had a baby between 9th and 10th grade. She was a honor roll student from a good family that just fell into the wrong crowd. On occasion she'd come visit her old classmates but I was unsure if she was still in school. I asked one of her close friends and she told me that she was in a special program across town for teenage mothers. I'm glad with the help of her parents and the special program that she was able to complete high school. I hate to see bad things happen to good people. "Riding in Cars with Boys" deals with important relationships between a mother and a son, a father and a daughter and a husband and a wife. Sadly the film doesn't deal with any of these particularly well. Veteran director Penny Marshall (A League of their Own) who as an actress is best known as Laverne from the 70's show "Laverne and Shirley" never quite get's a handle on the material. Marshall who has directed biographical pictures before fails to allow the viewer to connect with the characters. Instead of letting the audience form their own thoughts and feelings Marshall's direction attempts to spoon feed the emotions she feels are important. This makes things come across as preachy. In a movie I want to be able to make my own connections with the characters which is something that just wasn't possible in this movie. Looking down the cast for this feature you'll find such actors as James Woods, Steve Zahn, Brittany Murphy and Drew Barrymore. With a cast list that good I was expecting some powerhouse acting performances. Instead the film only delivers this to a certain extent and comes off as a disappointment. Drew Barrymore who is an actress who has gone through some rough times in her own life plays the lead here. Once a promising child star Drew turned to drugs and alcohol. She also had a long standing feud with her mother that she just reconciled with the help of making this film and her husband Tom Green. Drew made the difficult come back to once again top the box office in the remake of "Charlie's Angels". Drew stars as Bev from age 15 on words. Although Bev goes on a difficult life journey Drew is unable to convince this viewer on just how hard that journey is. She barely manages to scrape the surface. She just doesn't seem responsible enough to portray this role with any realism. The role seems to have been miscast and might have been better in the hands of a slightly older Julia Stiles. Steve Zahn who is a talented comedic actor is cast here in a rare dramatic role. While Zahn will never be capable of a Robert Deniro or even a Ben Affleck type performance is he surprisingly watchable here. Zahn brings some humor to the role of Ray. Brittany Murphy who can currently be seen opposite Michael Douglas in "Don't Say a Word" plays Bev's best friend Faye. Murphy has grown leaps and bounds since her tomboy role in "Clueless" and easily steals all her scenes in this picture. The always reliable James Woods gives another excellent performance here as Bev's father. Woods makes an effort to evoke real emotions from the audience but just can't get passed the brick wall put up by director Marshall. Also appearing are Adam Garcia (Coyote Ugly) and the ever delightful child actress Mika Boorem (Heart's in Atlantis, Along Came a Spider). Despite all the problems dealing with the preachy nature of the story and the miscasting that isn't the end of the film's problem. The film's pacing could also use some serious altering. At a length of 2 hours and 15 minutes this film is around 25 to 30 minutes too long. An emotional drama like this one should clock in closer to the 1:50 mark as after the first 45 minutes the film slows down to a crawl. Although the life story of Beverly Donofrio is one that should be told and celebrated this film doesn't really do it justice. The attempts by the director to force emotion on the viewers is often sickening and it's clear this role isn't best suited for Drew. In it's current form "Riding in Cars with Boys" is too problematic for it's own good. This is a real shame as the story could have had the makings for a better film. Not Recommended. Movie Review : 6/10 Review October 27, 2001 by Mark McLeod |