Riding in Cars with Boys

 

Riding in Cars with Boys 2001

• Director: Penny Marshall
• Seen by this director: A League of Their Own, Awakenings
• Based on the book by Beverly D’Onofrio
• Cast: Drew Barrymore, Steve Zahn, Adam Garcia, Brittany Murphy, James Wood, Lorraine Bracco, Rosie Perez, Sara Gilbert, Peter Facinelli
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Drew Barrymore – He’s Just Not That into You, Music and Lyrics, Donnie Darko, Ever After, ET
• Steve Zahn – Sunshine Cleaning, Hamlet, You Have Mail, SubUrbia, Reality Bites
• Adam Garcia – Death on the Nile, Murder on the Orient Express, Flight of the Conchords, Doctor Who, Wilde
• Brittany Murphy – The Dead Girl, 8 Mile, Girl Interrupted, Clueless
• James Wood – Be Cool, Salvador, Videodrome, Eyewitness, Holocaust
• Lorraine Bracco – The Sopranos, The Basketball Diaries
• Rosie Perez – White Men Can’t Jump, Fearless, Night on Earth, Do the Right Thing
• Sara Gilbert – High Fidelity
• Why? I remember liking it.
• Seen: Once before. Now 29 January 2023      

       Bev (Barrymore) gets pregnant at fifteen, marries Ray (Zahn) and complains the rest of the film about how her husband and kid have ruined her life. Both Bev and Barrymore are obnoxious, as is her father (Wood) but Zahn, Bracco, Murphy and Perez make it bearable. It tugs at the heartstrings often enough to make one think it’s a good film, but it’s not. It’s uncomfortably close to being misogynistic; I’m quite sure the opposite was intended but I still don’t like it this time. The ending is sickeningly sweet. 

2* of 5