Riding in Cars with Boys (Special Edition) From:Drew Barrymore , Lorraine Bracco , Sara Gilbert , Maggie Gyllenhaal , David Moscow , Sony , Sony Pictures ,
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See larger picture. | | Amazon Sales Rank:# 13279 User Rating: Customer Reviews List Price:$9.95 Amazon.com's Price:$7.99 Prices subject to change. You Save:$1.96 (19.70%) Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours |
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 9780767867085
Format: Closed-captioned
Format: Color
Format: Dolby
Format: Dubbed
Format: DVD-Video
Format: Special Edition
Format: Subtitled
Format: Widescreen
Format: NTSC
ISBN: 0767867084
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Packaged Height: 60 hundredths-inches
Packaged Length: 750 hundredths-inches
Packaged Weight: 25 hundredths-pounds
Packaged Width: 490 hundredths-inches
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: 2002-03-19
Running Time: 131 minutes
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2001
Product Description:
A single mother with dreams of becoming a writer has a son at the age of 15 in 1968 and goes through a failed marriage with the drug-addicted father. Special features: subtitles in english french chinese korean and thai audio commentary by drew barrymore theatrical trailers filmographies & much more. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/22/2008 Starring: Drew Barrymore Brittany Murphy Run time: 131 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Penny Marshall
Customer Reviews:
3 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
Riding anywhere with Drew is always a joy..., 2008-05-27
My wife loves this movie, and I have to say that I find it quite enjoyable myself. Surprisingly, `Riding in Cars with Boys' is a decent dramatic comedy that touches the heart and pleases the viewer. I say surprisingly because it never generated any buzz and thus became a forgotten film. I love Drew Barrymore; I find her as talented as she is beautiful and I can't really get enough of her. Here she shines brightly, as always, and adds layers to the film. In fact, the acting across the board is extremely strong here and is a huge selling point. The film has a few drawbacks; especially the ending, but there are enough highlights to make up for a few disappointing turns.
The film tells the true story of young Beverly D'Onofrio who wound up pregnant at 15, married to a loser and living the life she never dreamed she'd live. Beverly meets Ray after her failed attempt at seducing the handsome jock at a party turns embarrassing and humiliating. Ray defends her and she is instantly smitten. Of course we know what comes next, and once her parents find out she is pregnant she is forced to marry Ray. Beverly wants to go to school, get her degree, become a writer; but being married and raising a child damper that drastically. What makes things worse is when she discovers that her husband is abusing drugs and refuses to get help. Beverly soon realizes that she has to help herself, and her son, and while things may not always be perfect she tries her hardest to make them work.
Of course some of the facts have been tainted to add dramatic effect. Beverly wasn't 15 when she gave birth to her son, she was 17; and she was not a high school dropout, as she is portrayed as in the film; but this is Hollywood and Hollywood likes to make things seem as hopeless as possible in order to garner the audiences deepest sympathies. It works here.
Barrymore is wonderful as Beverly, especially in her teenage years. She develops a very believable and sympathetic character that is distressed, overwhelmed, overjoyed and scared all at the same time. She has impeccable comedic delivery, but what makes her performance so warm and enjoyable is her ability to add the right amount of dramatic flare to her characters every action. Steve Zahn was a total surprise for me. I generally am not too impressed with his work but I found him to be flawless here; especially his `goodbye' scene with his young son. I actually cried it was so touching. Brittany Murphy has been on my radar for a while and she delivers yet again here as Fay, Beverly's best friend; and of course the likes of James Woods and Lorraine Bracco are nothing but brilliant; as to be expected. Rosie Perez has a memorable cameo towards the end of the film as well.
Adam Garcia is one of my disappointments. His acting is decent but his narrative is annoying; in my opinion. The narrative though is nothing compared to the jip I felt when the credits began to roll. The film is so well constructed throughout, giving us a complete look at Beverly's life leading up to the conclusion and then it just lets go of everything without tying up those loose ends properly. You can feel the tension between Beverly and her teenage son Jason throughout but in the final frames when he finally confronts her there is no real resolution. They give it a very `Hollywood' resolution, painting a happy ending far too quickly for it to be believable or even understandable. They could have easily added a good ten minutes or so to flesh that out.
The ending aside, `Riding in Cars with Boys' is a very enjoyable ride. I recommend this to any fan of Barrymore, for it's one of her finest turns, but also to any fan of the genre. It is not the best of its breed but it is warm and touching and uplifting; a film that aspires to be great, settles on very good, and manages to be much better than expected.
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