Pick something sunshiny next time, Drew. It's nicer to see you smile.
Comment
10/19/01
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
48
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:107
Fresh:51
Rotten:56
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: Riding in Cars With Boys suffers from mixing grit and pathos with cuteness and comedy. Ironically, many critics found Zahn's character more compelling and three-dimensional than Barrymore's.
Runtime: 2 hrs 11 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Beverly loves boys, but she knows her limits: nothing below the waist (hers), if she doesn't know the boy. Ray, however, a sweet-natured but shiftless young man is the exception to her rule and... [More]
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Steve Zahn, James Woods, Brittany Murphy
Director: Penny Marshall
Reviews for Riding in Cars with Boys
Riding in Cars With Boys might move around a lot, but it isn't quite as fun a trip as it initially appears it will be.
10/19/01
Neither Barrymore, who's never played a role this ambitious before, nor director Penny Marshall, who peppers the movie with sight gags and sitcom broadness, ever comes to terms with Beverly.
10/19/01
The splendid cast keeps Penny Marshall's film ... from heading into a soaped limbo of banality.
10/19/01
Penny Marshall's tin ear for drama prompts audience laughter at the most horrific scenes.
10/19/01
Every scene is coated with Marshall's thumbprints, ultimately connecting into a manhandled, mangled, misshapen whole, its themes written out in thunderously obvious cues.
10/19/01
There's the core of a good, tough movie lost under Marshall's self-indulgence.
10/19/01
Barrymore delivers on the promise of her earlier work with a performance that's honest, affecting, funny and touching.
10/19/01
A pleasant, mostly realistic slice of life that puts Barrymore's trademark enthusiasm to good use.
10/19/01
Even though it outstays its welcome and is quite heavy-handed in its guy-bashing, it benefits from stellar performances by its stars.
10/19/01
The picture is too cute and easily resolved to get down to the grit of Bev and Jason's experience.
10/19/01
You can see how hard it works from top to bottom. But it never quite gets what it wants.
10/19/01
It strains for bittersweetness, but a heavy directorial hand (wielding a ladle of schmaltz) tends to overwhelm both the humor and the pathos.
10/19/01
Something is being said about the lifelong relationship between parents and children, but it is too faint to be understood very well.
10/19/01
The role of Beverly is a tour de force for Barrymore who takes the woman from 15 to 35, remaining surprisingly credible throughout the journey.
10/19/01
I can't call Riding In Cars With Boys' poor-me martyr mom anything other than a character that puts the jerk in this wannabe tear-jerker.
10/19/01
Too much of its reality involves joyless response to circumstantial failure, and instead of being ironic or bittersweet, it's mostly bitter.
10/19/01
This thing's a winner.
10/19/01
What with a miscast star, a confused director and a cluttered script, Riding in Cars with Boys is a traffic accident of a movie.
10/19/01
Barrymore rises to the occasion in this smart story, which never flinches from the self-doubt and tough decisions a single mother makes along the way.
10/19/01
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