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The Movie:
"Riding In Cars With Boys" is another in a long line of instances where it's obvious that one or more actors are passionate about the project, but there's problems elsewhere that keep the movie from being as good as the performances would have otherwise made it. In this case, it's Drew Barrymore, throwing herself into the role of young mother Beverly D'Onofrio (whose memoirs the film is based on) much in the same way she did with her character in "Never Been Kissed".
The film starts off with Bev as a child, boy-crazy, but intelligent and with dreams of being a writer. She has a good relationship with her parents; Dad (James Woods) is a police officer, while Mom (Lorraine Bracco) is a homemaker. Yet, everything completely falls apart when Bev meets Ray (Steve Zahn) and winds up pregnant at 15. The rest of the film follows Beverly from 15 to 36; Barrymore does a fairly convincing job playing both ends of the spectrum, although things get a little odd when viewers are presented with scenes with the older Bev and her now-grown son, played by "Coyote Ugly"'s Adam Garcia, who is actually two years older than Barrymore.
Anyways, things get far worse before they get better. Ray is not particularly bright and goes from being an alcoholic to a heroin addict later in the picture. He's an unfit father and Beverly is far too young to capably handle being a mother - but that doesn't mean that she won't try and attempt to still educate herself and get her and her child out of her situation. At the very least, I suppose "Riding In Cars With Boys" is a respectable cautionary tale about the results of teen pregnancy, a problem that is not getting any better in society, as more and more children are born to young mothers who can not support them and barely are able to support themselves.
Yet, as a movie, it's uneven. As previously mentioned, Barrymore is terrific. She's also accompanied by a superb supporting cast. Brittany Murphy, who first appeared in "Clueless", has really come into her own as a fantastic actress in the years since. Playing Bev's best friend Fay, Murphy is immensely likable and has a speech that's very moving at Bev's otherwise joyless wedding. Steve Zahn's performance as Ray is excellent, making an aimless and unlikable character interesting. James Woods is, as per usual, fantastic as Bev's father.
Director Penny Marshall doesn't seem to realize that the actors can capably gain the audience's interest without having to resort to a particularly sappy score or manipulative tactics. While the first half hour or so does have some little hints of comedy, the comedic elements that are shoehorned into the more dramatic moments go over uneasily, given the overall sadness of the situation. Issues about Beverly's parenting and how that effected her son are not really talked about in much depth. Marshall's film also could use some definite editing - at two hours and change, the movie starts to feel like it needs to move towards a point soon when it reaches its second half.
Overall, while I certainly can't fault the performances, Marshall simply doesn't seem like the appropriate director to really take the film places, nor does the screenplay really seem to want to explore the issues that it raises.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Riding In Cars With Boys" is presented by Columbia/Tristar in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. Marshall's usual cinematographer, Miroslav Ondrícek (previously known for his work on Milos Forman's early films, such as "Fireman's Ball"), creates realistic, crisp visuals that are quite pleasant and nicely presented here. Sharpness and detail are a little bit off, as the picture appeared slightly on the soft side throughout, but this could be intentional.
While the mild edge enhancement that is occasionally noticed on the studio's releases isn't found here, there were a few other minor faults to contend with. Some interiors show a moderate amount of grain and a few scenes had a speck or two on the print used, but otherwise, there wasn't anything to complain about. No pixelation was seen.
The picture maintains a fairly muted color palette throughout the movie, with a few scenes here and there that boast somewhat brighter hues. Overall, colors looked accurate and without flaws. Overall, this is a very nice transfer that ranks as one of Columbia's better recent efforts.
SOUND: "Riding In Cars With Boys" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, but it's generally the very definition of a "dialogue-driven" picture. Surrounds come in lightly for some of the tunes on the soundtrack as well as some instances of minor ambient sounds. Still, the majority of the film's audio sticks firmly to the front speakers. Dialogue (and there is a fair amount of yelling in this film) remains clear and easily understood.
MENUS: Very enjoyable film-themed animated menus, easily navigated.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary from actress Drew Barrymore. Personally, I thought this was one of the most entertaining tracks that I've listened to in quite a while. Barrymore obviously feels passionately about the movie as well as a lot of other things in life and there are times during this track when she seems to get pretty emotional. The commentary really doesn't offer much in the way of technical details about the movie, but Barrymore is able to provide really enjoyable, funny and intelligent insight into the character, the acting process and her thoughts on life in general for the entire running time.
Featurettes: 4 featurettes are included; "Bev's Trailer Tour", which features interviews with Barrymore, who discusses her meetings with the real-life Bev and also chats about the character; "Bev and Ray's House", which has the production designer offering a tour of creating a small house that could be filmed in as well as a neighborhood (completely built from scratch) that could create the sense of a small block well; "Cars", which details how the production rounded up cars from the era (and also has some very, very funny moments from Woods) and "Bev and Jason", which contains additional interviews from Beverly, her actual son Jason, producer James L. Brooks, director Marshall and others.
Also: Filmographies, trailers for "Riding In Cars", "Charlie's Angels" and "A League Of Their Own" and the 22-minute HBO "making of" special, which is considerably more informative than the HBO featurettes usually are.
Final Thoughts: "Riding In Cars With Boys" does have a lot of things going for it - the performances from the entire cast are quite good and really make the most out of the material. Yet, Marshall can't seem to help adding sap and pushing the emotions when the actors are doing a good enough job on their own. Pacing also becomes a problem in the second half, when the ending doesn't seem as if it's on the horizon. Overall, it's a mildly enjoyable tear-jerker that could have been better with a different director. Those who are fans of the picture should certainly enjoy the DVD, which has a great commentary from Barrymore and good audio/video. Those who haven't seen it and are in the mood for this kind of film should check it out as a rental first.
Film Grade
The Film ** 1/2
DVD Grades
Video 89/B+
Audio: 85/B
Extras: 85/B
Menus: 85/B
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