Écarts de conduite

Based on the life of Beverly Donoforio, and the book with the same title,this movie was phenomenal. The 'feel good' feeling that this movie is gifted with, makes this movie a top notch drama/comedy.

This will undoubtedly be Drew Barrymoe's greatest performances. Her performance as Beverly seemed as if she was just born to play it. The way her voice, sweetness and personality blended with the character, seemed as if Drew was playing herself and not Beverly. Brittany Murphy gives a solid performance as Faye- Beverly's best friend. This movie had a great cast including Steve Zahn- who was outstanding as Ray- Beverly's drug taking husband, Adam Garcia, Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods, and Peter Facinelli- who all gave unforgettable heart warming performances.

The make up is also another reason for watching this- teenage,middle aged and older Beverly are all played by Drew, and it looks natural- it's same with Ray. The humour in this movie along with its drama, make this a must see for everyone. A good production.

I'm a Chinese staying and traveling in U.S. Four years ago, I lived in Enterprise, Alabama for 7 months, and befriended with many "southerners". I know how a lot of ordinary Americans feel when they struggle in their lives every day -- sad, lost, and almost desperate. This is a country full of freedom and opportunities. But in reality, one bad move in this system usually is enough to ruin a person's life, leaving no way for coming back. Being knocked up in high school, dropping out, drug, drinking, gun, bad credit,lawsuits.... This is the side of U.S not mentioned often enough on TV or movies, and is real. I loved this movie and would like to see it again when I get a chance. 8 out of 10. Also recommend another loosely similar movie from France: "Dream Life of the Angels", with more remarkable performances and a more shocking story.

A great movie in my opinion,not the usual melodrama-stuff,as some might believe reading just the plot.

The story of Beverly and Ray could be that of anyone of us.

Their marriage enforced by her pregnancy and consequently due to unwritten rules of puritanism governing a small Connecticut community,brought together two rather unexperienced and immature teens. Her behaviour after giving birth to Jason,conflicts to a certain extent to that of a normal mother.But was she a normal mother? We need to understand her! This pregnancy linked her to a unwanted man and brought life unexpectedly to a child.It blocked her dreams of going to high school and college,so her behaviour is justified to a certain extent.

Two scenes,at the end,I consider as masterpieces.

First her meeting together with the grown-up son at Ray's house,after years of separation,finding there a still drug addicted person,physically and even mentally finished.Ray feels guilty for all pain inflicted to her,but the only thing he can do now is to sign that paper authorizing her to publish the story of their life.

Secondly the scene of Beverly and Josua reunited as mother and son for a short while,embracing near Ray's house,before going each one a separate way.Josua to his beloved,she calling her father to catch her up with the car and go to home of her parents.

The last scene is particularly moving,father and daughter driving home in the car,sing that lovely song "Dreams".This might be bout all the unfulfilled dreams of her life,or perhaps an illusion that all her hardships were nothing else than a dream.No dreams whatever,all she lived was true life.And this was a serene,nice end ,after so much drama unfolding in her life!

Beverly knows more than others how your life can change direction with one simple action. She had dreams of becoming a writer as a child but when she got pregnant at 15 all of that changed and she found herself married and living in a cheap house raising a son while trying to study for her exams. This is the start of her struggles where her husband never aspires beyond his next beer and she struggles with responsibility towards her son Jason. Years later, riding with her adult son on a trip, she thinks back over her years.

The title and trailer pretty much let me know that this was aimed at a certain demographic that I am not part of, but I decided to give it a go anyway. The plot is a tapestry of moments across Beverly's life from her dreams to middle age; it is a mix of the comic and the tragic and it doesn't sit that well. Penny Marshall seems to want the comedy to come out – even when it is not appropriate (for example Beverly allowing Jason to continue drowning for comedy effect) and this sits very uneasily with the more dramatic character side of the film. In fact the more serious (and interesting) aspects are mostly badly handled and fall a bit flat. In particular Marshall cannot cope very well with the fact that her lead character is a deeply flawed person that the audience easily dislike at times; the film gets close to examining this at the end but, typically, chickens out big time. The story is mainly quite dull then and the moments that are meant to be funny just seem strangely out of place.

The cast don't help at all. Barrymore is serviceable but can't get to the heart of her character. OK, she isn't helped by the material but she swings wildly from playing "silly" at one moment to overdoing the histrionics. Zahn is not the first choice you want for a film with a story; he goofs well enough but finding depth is not really his forte and he adds to the shallow feel of the main story. Gilbert is hardly in it but Murphy is actually quite good, but then the material doesn't really ask much of it anyway. Woods and Bracco add familiar faces but really nothing else, in tiny roles. Perez plays a money grabber in a small role and made me wonder if she goes out of her way to find such characters? A minor thing that got to me as well was the fact that this is meant to play over years and years but mostly, nobody ages convincingly: apart from costume and hairstyle Barrymore looks the same at the start and the end of the story and this pretty much goes for everyone. A minor quibble but it bothered me.

Overall this is an average and uneven film. The story is interesting because it features such a flawed lead character and could have been interesting but it is roundly mishandled. The comic moments sit uneasily with the story as a whole, but Marshall seems happier with these touches than actually delivering the drama goods. The cast match her approach and their performances vary wildly depending if the scene they are shooting that day was a "happy scene", "sad scene" or "angry scene". Target audience might like it but it is far too flawed to have wider appeal.

Riding in Cars with Boys is definitely a step into a new direction for actress Drew Barrymore. Drew, in her most difficult role to date, tries and succeeds through the majority of the movie. There are times when she goes a little out of bounds, and becomes outrageous -- but for the most part, she nails the part.

The film tells its story nicely, and has a strange and some-what heartbreaking ending. Steve Zahn is easily the high-point of this film. Zahn's character will be the one you think about the most when this film ends.

Riding in Cars with Boys works on enough levels to make it worth seeing.