Director Penny Marshall and producer James Brooks team up for the first time since "Big" to bring us "Riding in Cars with Boys." The product is an unexpectedly enjoyable film adaptation of the "real-life" memoirs of Beverly D'Onofrio.
The movie begins in 1986 when Beverly's son Jason (Adam Garcia) picks her up and braces himself for a long ride with his hated mother (Drew Barrymore). She has implored one last favor from him; a ride to see her deadbeat ex-husband who must sign a release form in order to get her memoirs published. For Beverly, it is an afterthought that this will be the first time her 20-year-old son has seen his father in 14 years.
The film then unfolds in a series of mostly clever and engaging vignettes that depict Beverly's early life and explain the current relationship between mother and son.
The flashbacks begin comically enough, with the town loser Ray Hasek (Steve Zahn) standing up for Beverly after she gets her heart broken at a party by the high school quarterback. Ray challenges the jock to a fight and accepts a punch to the head, causing the quarterback to break his throwing hand and Beverly and Ray to run for their lives. They speed off in a car with Beverly's best friend Fay (Brittany Murphy) and her boyfriend in tow. The teens park in a secluded spot, and then the hormones take over and both couples have sex in the car. The fun doesn't last too long, and the scene amusingly comes to an end with the appearance of the cops - one of whom happens to be Beverly's father (James Woods).
The humor of the early vignettes soon turns to more serious drama as the wild night produces grave repercussions for Beverly in the form of an unwanted son. Her father and mother (Lorraine Brocco) force her to marry the dimwitted but loving Ray in order to keep up appearances. They buy the newlyweds a dilapidated public house situated, appropriately enough, on a dead end street. The movie then shows the various instances in which Beverly attempts to reclaim her life and go to college, only to be held back by her son and now drug-addicted husband.
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Marshall and writer Morgan Upton Ward mostly restrain themselves from becoming overly sentimental. Almost every moment that builds toward a "this is much too sweet" groan is expertly tempered by witty lines or sudden infringements of harsh reality, such as when Fay toasts Beverly at her embarrassing excuse for a wedding reception. Fay makes a tearful speech about how beautiful Beverly is and how she should be appreciated. Instead of the expected tearful reconciliation with her family, an old lady screams out that Beverly is not radiant, it's just the pretty chair she is sitting in. The entire family nods in agreement, leaving Beverly alone and unwanted at her own wedding.
Barrymore does a respectable job as Beverly, but the real driving force behind this movie is Zahn. I never thought I could say that after watching his standard nonsensical performance in "Saving Silverman." In this movie he is still a bumbling fool, but he somehow infuses poignancy and some sense of dignity into his heroin-addicted character.
Ray is clearly a deadbeat and no good for his family, but Zahn turns him into a pitiable character who wants nothing more than to love his wife and son. He just doesn't have the smarts to support them, and throughout the movie he is painfully aware of his shortcomings. Zahn truly does steal the show, and his interactions with Jason, both as a child and a young adult, are genuinely moving moments. He provides realistic portraits of a deadbeat father hopelessly trying to impress a son he dearly loves but can't hope to provide for.
The movie does include some forced inter-personal resolutions, and yes, there are two mawkish sing-a-longs. I found myself forgiving these sparse sections of pure sappiness and appreciating "Riding in Cars" as a daring movie. It is daring because it is not so much the story of a woman triumphing over obstacles as much as it is the story of a woman creating many of her own obstacles and blaming them on others, especially her innocent son. "Riding in Cars" does have a nauseating sentimental side, but the majority of the movie smartly depicts a hapless mother alienating her only son with her misguided attempts to improve both their lives.
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