"Riding in Cars with Boys" is one of the strangest movies I have ever seen. Not so much because of the subject matter, but more because of how the subject matter is so mismatched with the way that it is handled. There are times of goofiness and humor in this film when they simply do not belong, and the main character is trying to be passed off as likeable and sweet when she is anything but the two. Point blank: Penny Marshall was the absolute wrong choice to direct this film.
I say this not because she is not a good director; but "A League of Their Own" this film is not. I watched this movie expecting a sweet Drew Barrymore vehicle in which she shows off a few acting chops. I got what I expected...and a whole heck of a lot more. The film deals with so many issues, it can't possibly contain all of them in less than two hours effectively. First of all, teen pregnancy. Second, religious parents who believe children should not be born out of wedlock, which leads to teen marriage. Third, teen motherhood. And fourth, and most important, the effects of treating children from the day they were born like they were a mistake.
I could name scene after scene that true feeling and emotion was substituted for either sentimentality or a dim joke. From the moment Jason is born, Barrymore's character, Beverly, is disappointed. But they try to make it light by her disappointment in the fact that she had a boy, not a girl. She pouts and whines and we are supposed to laugh. Uh, yeah, not funny.
This bothered me very much. The character of Bev was a horrible human being. Yes, I feel bad for her throughout the movie. She was smart and had a huge chance at a good life, but look what riding in cars with boys got her a kid. So while I felt bad for Beverly, I felt worse for Jason, her son who lived his life trying to achieve the most impossible of goals: making his mother proud.
And Steve Zahn worked well enough with what was given him, but I am convinced that if a director more suited to this film helmed it then Zahn would have been nominated for an Oscar. But his character is such a contrived jerk, that is all we see him as. And his final scene could have been one of the most touching, poignant moments in movie history, but instead we get this cheesy, rushed, anti-climactic scene that serves more as a platform for Rosie Perez to yell a lot.
In the end, I cannot see if Beverly has changed. I cannot see that she has become a better person. The film was okay, and Drew Barrymore's performance was fine, considering how the movie turned out. But it could have been better. The acting, the directing, the story, the emotion, the handling of such delicate and important issues, everything about this movie it all could have been so much better.
I say this not because she is not a good director; but "A League of Their Own" this film is not. I watched this movie expecting a sweet Drew Barrymore vehicle in which she shows off a few acting chops. I got what I expected...and a whole heck of a lot more. The film deals with so many issues, it can't possibly contain all of them in less than two hours effectively. First of all, teen pregnancy. Second, religious parents who believe children should not be born out of wedlock, which leads to teen marriage. Third, teen motherhood. And fourth, and most important, the effects of treating children from the day they were born like they were a mistake.
I could name scene after scene that true feeling and emotion was substituted for either sentimentality or a dim joke. From the moment Jason is born, Barrymore's character, Beverly, is disappointed. But they try to make it light by her disappointment in the fact that she had a boy, not a girl. She pouts and whines and we are supposed to laugh. Uh, yeah, not funny.
This bothered me very much. The character of Bev was a horrible human being. Yes, I feel bad for her throughout the movie. She was smart and had a huge chance at a good life, but look what riding in cars with boys got her a kid. So while I felt bad for Beverly, I felt worse for Jason, her son who lived his life trying to achieve the most impossible of goals: making his mother proud.
And Steve Zahn worked well enough with what was given him, but I am convinced that if a director more suited to this film helmed it then Zahn would have been nominated for an Oscar. But his character is such a contrived jerk, that is all we see him as. And his final scene could have been one of the most touching, poignant moments in movie history, but instead we get this cheesy, rushed, anti-climactic scene that serves more as a platform for Rosie Perez to yell a lot.
In the end, I cannot see if Beverly has changed. I cannot see that she has become a better person. The film was okay, and Drew Barrymore's performance was fine, considering how the movie turned out. But it could have been better. The acting, the directing, the story, the emotion, the handling of such delicate and important issues, everything about this movie it all could have been so much better.
Tell Your Friends