Riding
in Cars with Boys (2001)
Let
me start by saying that I love Drew Barrymore and Penny
Marshall. They are perhaps two of the most talented
women working in Hollywood. Barrymore is young, feisty
and makes wise career decisions. She's not afraid to
use her sexuality to get noticed either. Marshall, meanwhile,
made the transition from TV star to film director with
ease, making consummate and poignant films like "Big"
and "Awakenings" both amusing and marketable.
But "Riding in Cars with Boys" is one of the most annoying
and amateurish pieces of slop that a female has made
since Lizzie Borden's "Love Crimes." It appears Marshall
has been spending too many nights getting drunk with
Tamara Davis and Penelope Spheeris.
The most glaring problem with "Riding in Cars with Boys"
(God that title is laborious and stupid) is the annoying
character Barrymore plays. Bev, who ages from about
15 to 35 here, is one of the dumbest, most insensitive
nags to be found on the Eastern seaboard. She whines,
needles and generally ruins the life of her child. This
is not a person I would want to know in real life. Why
would I pay eight bucks to hang out with her for 2+
ungodly hours in a megaplex?
And the film is way too long as well. It's one thing
to have needles on the chalkboard; it's quite another
to have them rake for 130 minutes! This film is in need
of an editor and a continuity person. Marshall chops
the film up like a butcher on speed and often the glaring
continuity errors are so obvious that we almost think
she must be making some sort of artistic statement about
the transitory nature of people and inanimate objects.
It's really, really bad filmmaking.
As for the folks who have to put up with Barrymore as
Bev and be in the film with her, none really stand out
more than the boy playing her son at age 6, Cody Arens.
The audience I watched the film with oohed and ahhed
over this kid like he was Jell-O with whipped cream.
This kid is cute but he is too fucking cute. We never
feel sorry for him because he is obviously a very cute
and amusing child actor and not a real character at
all. Meanwhile, poor Steve Zahn and James Woods are
typecast and then given almost nothing to do. Zahn tries
to mug and goof his way through a thankless role that
tries to make him an idiot and a jerk. Like his infantile
peer, he looks like a cute actor mugging for the camera
more than a real character. At least Woods is wise enough
to just sit there and shrug.
Worst of all is the endless narration we have to suffer
coming from Bev's grown son (Adam Garcia), who narrates
the film as if it were all flashback. Often it feels
like we are watching some sort of spoof of "The Wonder
Years." It goes on and on and is as endlessly annoying
as Barrymore's lousy, fake, Eastern accent. The script
by Morgan Ward is shit. Someone should smash his/her
typewriter!
"Riding
in Cars with Boys" could have been a good film. There
is some relevance to the subject of a teenage girl being
pregnant in the early 60's that could be interesting
and insightful. The film touches on this for about 5
minutes. Sadly, the people involved here are far more
interested in simply trying to generate revenue and
false tears rather than create a truly interesting film.
Notes:
Also with Sara Gilbert, Lorraine Bracco, Maggie Gyllenhaal,
Peter Facinelli, Tracey Reiner and Rosie Perez.
The song "All I Have to do is Dream" by the Everly Brothers
is used as a theme between Barrymore and Woods' characters.
They sing the song together. Other than "I'm Having
your Baby" it is probably the most inappropriate song
to be sung by a father and daughter that one can imagine.
Based on the autobiographical book by Beverly D'onofrio.
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