Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

For most male moviegoers, many of them want to see some big action and explosion to their movies but when they’re with their women, sometimes they’re forced to see melodramatic movies with women crying and all this stuff that some call “chick-flicks”. While chick-flicks aren’t clearly for everyone, they do put out good stories whenever they want to and sometimes, there are stories that are appealing to men also. While female filmmakers like Nora Ephron tries to stray away from the melodramatic formula of chick-flicks, other filmmakers often stick with the formula, sometimes bringing in clichés and things moviegoers have seen before. Then there’s Penny Marshall, already an established star for “Laverne & Shirley” and an acclaimed filmmaker for movies like “Big” and “A League of Their Own” has often brought films that are light-hearted and fun to watch. In 2001 after a five-year hiatus she returns with another film of that same formula but with awful results in the movie “Riding in Cars with Boys”.

“Riding in Cars with Boys” is based on the life of Beverly Donofrio, a woman who had a child early on in life as she struggles to raise her child while trying to find ways to get out of her working-class home of Connecticut. Marshall and screenwriter Morgan Upton adapted Donofrio’s story into something in the realm of a chick-flick that is both funny and dramatic but with awful results. Added to the mix is actress Drew Barrymore, who has already established herself in films like “E.T.”, “Scream”, and “The Wedding Singer”, who plays the role of Beverly Donofrio as a bid to obtain the attention of film critics and those working for the Academy Awards. Add the quirky, independent film actor Steve Zahn, veterans James Woods and Lorraine Bracco, and up-and-coming stars Adam Garcia, Brittany Murphy, Peter Facinelli, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, it’s likely to be an ensemble movie. Wrong, it’s actually more complicated than it appears as “Riding in Cars with Boys” marks an artistic low point for those involved including Penny Marshall.

The film starts off as it begins in 1961 Christmas in Connecticut as an eleven-year-old Beverly (Mika Boorem) is driving in a car with her policeman father (James Woods) as she asks about bras and stuff that makes him uncomfortable. The film at this point would go back and forth to the past and the year 1986 as Beverly (Drew Barrymore) is in New York and going to Connecticut with her twenty-year-old son Jason (Adam Garcia) to sign a lease from an old friend of hers to release her book. The film then flashes back to 1965 as the fifteen-year-old Beverly (also played by Barrymore) hangs out with her friends Fay (Brittany Murphy) and Tina (Sara Gilbert) in their working class town. Beverly’s mother (Lorraine Bracco) worries about Beverly’s interest in boys while Beverly wants to go to NYU and become a writer. That changes when she meets up with a pathetic, caring 18-year-old stoner named Ray Hasek (Steve Zahn). They end up making out and all hell breaks loose as Beverly learns she is pregnant.

Ray asks her to marry him as her parents decide to help her, out of pity, and they get married when Fay announces that she too got knocked up by some guy. Beverly and Fay dream of getting girls but Ray is already an irresponsible loser having a hard time getting a job while getting stone with friend Lizard (David Moscow, who played the younger Tom Hanks in “Big”). Beverly ends up getting a boy named Jason while Fay ends up getting a girl named Amelia. Unfortunately, life with a baby turns out to be a pain in the butt for Beverly as Jason is a wild child as she tries to pass high school and go to college but keeps failing. Ray of course, screw things up as usual as he gets drunk and stuff. Even as Jason gets older, she is already upset that her life is like this and after a failed interview for NYU, thanks in part to Ray’s absence and Jason, she just b*tches about how much her life sucks. She wants to be good mother but everything keeps going wrong as the time starts to pass by.

The film goes back to 1986 where the older Jason decides he wants to transfer from NYU to Indiana much to the disgust of his mother. The older Jason wonders if he’s the blame for some of the hardship his mother had to endure as he flashes back to the time when Beverly meets up with an old high school friend Tommy Butcher (Peter Facinelli). Butcher offers her to go to California with Jason (at this point, played by Cody Arens) and Ray. Ray decides to go with all the money he had but he blows it after he gets addicted to smack as she decides to break up with Ray. Ray decides to leave for good much to the dismay of little Jason who blames his mother for his departure. The film goes back to 1986 where Jason calls girlfriend and Fay’s daughter Amelia (Maggie Gyllenhaal) about his mom and she’s upset for him being a mama’s boy and stuff. The film by this point gets more melodramatic as Beverly goes for one last ditch effort to leave Connecticut blown by the eight-year-old Jason (Logan Lerman) as the film goes back to 1986 where we meet the old friend and his b*tchy wife (Rosie Perez) as emotions climax and everything just goes into sh*t.

When the film was coming out, it was promoted as a comedy but the end-result was a messy comedy-drama with a poor script that is only good in its first act until Drew Barrymore gives birth to her kid. Penny Marshall, a good director, couldn’t really get this film to be exciting and dramatic as it suffers from mindless melodrama, low brow comedic aesthetics, and plot holes that aren’t fulfilled like what actually happened to Jason’s life between eight and 20 and when did he and his mom had any good moments. The script suffers from that plus, it seems like some things in the film were exaggerated. I don’t know anything about the real life of Beverly Donofrio but I think in the book, it might have been a tougher or a lot less dramatic than the film had intended it to be. If the book was exactly like this, then the life lessons learned in that movie sends in some very bad messages.

While Drew Barrymore can bring in good performances, only in the early parts as a teenager is where she shines but at the same time, she looks a little old to play a 15-year-old. In later parts, she just whines constantly about how her life sucks as she acts irresponsibly at one point where her kid falls into a cold pool and she tries to save but always b*tches about being a poor mom. Even in the 1986 sequence where she tries to look older, she still looks like someone in her 20s, it’s not very convincing enough. Drew has a long way before she can get the chance to get an Oscar but then again, with her appearing in those substance-less ilk like those “Charlie’s Angels” movies, there’s really no hope.

Steve Zahn is always likeable to play such loveable losers in movies like “Suburbia”, “Reality Bites”, and “Happy, Texas” but in “Riding in Cars with Boys” he doesn’t do anything new other than the fact that he does smack. If u seen him in those movies, there’s no point in watching him in “Riding in Cars with Boys” since he just screws everything up and does nothing else. Brittany Murphy does do a good performance as Drew’s friend Fay including one scene where she pretends to be Beverly’s mom, which is one of the best scenes in the film. Peter Facinelli’s role was just too small and brief to bring hope but he doesn’t sound convincing in the film either though he fared better in the action show “Fastlane”. Lorraine Bracco does a good performance as Drew’s mom while James Woods is just brilliant as the dad. You can put Woods in a bad movie and he can still kick *ss but not even him and Bracco could save the movie.

Even breakthrough star Maggie Gyllenhaal couldn’t help the movie since she is only in the film for 3-4 minutes as Adam Garcia’s girlfriend who just says, “I love you” and “Leave your mom” that is just underwritten and poorly developed. While her character in "40 Days & 40 Nights” wasn’t great either, her role in “Riding in Cars with Boys” was just awful and I think she only took the role for money and experience. Oh well, at least you have to put a few bad movies in your resume; her brother Jake did it with “Bubble Boy” (which isn’t as bad as it seems but still sucks). We’ll be forgetting those soon. Finally, there’s the role of Jason played a few kids in the movie that starts out fun but they get annoying in the end and Adam Garcia’s portrayal as the 20 year old Jason isn’t entirely well-written either since he too b*tches at his mom and all this stuff.

Despite performances from James Woods, Brittany Murphy, and Lorraine Bracco, “Riding in Cars with Boys” is just a sloppy, overtly melodramatic film that relies on too many formulas and not enough storylines. The screw ups, complaining, and struggle of the movie is so monotone and emotionless to the point where you really just want to kill the screenwriter and there are very few funny moments in that movie. I’m not even sure if women would like this since there’s no real point to this film or anything positive to watch about this movie. Even average chick-flicks are better than this as “Riding in Cars with Boys” is just a messy film with a good start but a dead middle and ending.


Recommended: No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older