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 This movie is a strict drama. That alone doesn't get it a bad rating, mind you, but the misleading trailers and tv commercials were unfair. My wife, being a teenage mom, expected to see a lighthearted movie about growing up with your kids. This movie is about getting beaten down over and over again for a decision that Drew makes when she is very young, in the end all is grand, but the journey is a mine field of hate, mistrust, and resentment....
I will have my daughter watch this one before she starts dating. Maybe it will make her think about the seriousness of certain actions.
The film turned out ... not so good. This means, let me hurriedly say, that Drew Barrymore, who played the main character, Beverley Donofrio, the writer of best-selling memoir of her life in turmoil, is so good; lovely bad-girl Drew, warmed my heart, with her sincere portrayal of the heroine's not-so-easy life-story. She meets her future husband who later proves to be really attractive, but hopelessly irritating loser. Being pregnant at the age of 15, Bev wishes to go to New York University, but instead ends up with raising her child (and a boy when she "planned" to have a girl), in her native town. But I said "not good" because, for all good acting, not least from this loser Steve Zahn, playing her husband with certain kind of charm -- yes, for all these good things, the film has too many faults by heavy-handed directions from Penny Marshall. The light-hearted touch, I think, is the key to the sccuess of this type of film, if you look back at her previous career -- "big" "Awakening" and "league of Their Own" -- but instead, her way of guiding the whole story looks very clumsy; see, for example, too many flashbacks which deprives the film of the emotional involvement on the audience's side. And some of the scenes just don't work, to illustrate, the one in which Bev's best friend Fay (Britterny Murphy, herself never better) sings the Shirelles hit song "Soldier Boy" for her boyfriend going to Vietnam. Don't you think it's too obvious even if you know the song? But the best way to describe my point would be to check out the soundtrack, which includes in one party scene the songs by Sonny and Cher, James Brown, and Gerry and Pacemakers! This incongruous combination surely is not fit for any occasion; though the material itself is good, the way of cooking (or arranging) is misguided. Likewise, very often the film does not know how to tell its precious story, containing too many sketches of relations -- Bev and father, Bev and son, Bev and her best friend fay, and Bev and her husband. I understand each story's value, but if the director had concentrated her narrative on three of them, not four, the result would be different. Again, the actors are all good though Adam Garcia from Australia just does not look like Bev's son, and Rosie Perez should have declined the role she had played many times before. But OK, I stop complaining, because there are lots of good things, too. The costumes and production designs are perfect, capturing the the atomosphere of the 1960s and 70s which is going to fade away now from our memories. And when the director doesn't rely on cloying sentiments, the film delivers what it should with its good story and characters, especially the heart-felt relations between Bev and the people surrounding her. It is certain that the last scene with Drew Barrymore and James Woods as her father together singing Everley Brothers' song is the best part of the film, which alone deserves to be seen. You many hate this term, but this is a real tear-jerker, and a good one at that. And what's wrong with that? No. I say, I love it, but I just felt that the film, like its wordy title, takes a too long ride to reach there.
It's a very well written script with a simple story, which if poorly done would be predictable and formulaic. But Penny Marshall has done a great job working with great actors and this is one movie worth seeing. It's fun to walk out of a theater and hear lots of other people saying "This was really good." Also, it's nice to see a movie where the trailer does not give away the best parts of the story. That's because this story is bigger than little scenes. it builds and deepens as you get to know and love the characters, even the losers. James Woods, Playing the father does a great job and so does Sara Gilbert (the teenaged faux femme fatale from American Beauty.) |
Drew Barrymore is perfect as Beverly D'Onofrio, a young mother trying to give her and her child a good life. The supporting cast is just as amazing: Steve Zahn, Brittany Murphy, and James Woods make this movie even sweeter!! It's real at all times, never forced. I'm just wondering where the Academy Award nomination is for Drew. She deserved it many times over!!!! Riding is a good vehicle for all of her talent, and she makes it an adorable film. If you want to cry and laugh at the same time, this is IT!
I love Drew Barrymore, and this movie is good. That should be the end of this review. Or should have been. I've been watching anything she is in, from "Altered States" to that dismally bad "Freddy Got Fingered," and now this film came to Osaka yesterday. Of course I went to the first show in the morning.
