Riding in Cars with Boys
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| Riding in Cars with Boys | |
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| Directed by | Penny Marshall |
| Produced by | Julie Ansell James L. Brooks Sara Colleton Laurence Mark Richard Sakai |
| Written by | Beverly D'Onofrio (book) Morgan Ward (screenplay) |
| Starring | Drew Barrymore Steve Zahn Brittany Murphy James Woods |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer Heitor Pereira |
| Cinematography | Miroslav Ondrícek |
| Editing by | Lawrence Jordan Richard Marks |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 19, 2001 USA |
| Running time | 132 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$48,000,000, (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
Riding in Cars with Boys is a 2001 film based on the autobiography of the same name by Beverly D'Onofrio, about a woman who overcame difficulties including being a teen mother to earning a master's degree from the span of 1961 to 1986. It starred Drew Barrymore, Steve Zahn, Brittany Murphy and James Woods. It was directed by Penny Marshall and co-produced by Beverly D'Onofrio herself, though many details from the book and film differ.
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[edit] Plot
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The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
Beverly D'Onofrio (Barrymore) is a smart, beautiful teenager who can't wait to grow up, much to the chagrin of her police sergeant father (Woods). Her life takes its first detour when she gets pregnant at age fifteen. The baby's father (Zahn), whom she meets at a party, turns out to need more mothering than her newborn son Jason. Through all the trouble and turmoil, Beverly makes a life for herself that's more than she ever imagined and lives a story waiting to be told, done through a series of flashbacks throughout the movie.
The year is 1961, and Beverly and Fay (Murphy) are the best of friends, sharing everything from beauty secrets to boys. Four years later, the girls sneak off to a party, where Beverly is hoping to attract the attention of a popular jock at school by writing him a poem. She gives it to him at the party, only for him to read it aloud in front of his friends, embarrassing her in the process.
Devastated at the rejection, Beverly locks herself in the bathroom, where she meets dropout Ray Hasek, whom she confides in. They, along with Fay and her soldier boyfriend Bobby, ditch the party and drive off to park. While Fay is making out in the back seat, she and Ray talk. Though Ray is reluctant to Beverly's romantic overtures at first, he finally gives in. They're happened upon by Beverly's father, who happens to be on duty that evening. He hauls both of them in, and Fay's parents pick her up, telling her she's not to see Beverly again. Beverly swears to her father that all they "were doing is making out."
The story picks up with Beverly telling Fay that she's pregnant and not sure of how to tell her parents. Eventually she does, devastating her parents. Though Ray is willing to marry her, Beverly is reluctant to have a baby, even going so far as throwing herself down the stairs to force a miscarriage. A wedding between Beverly and Ray is hastily planned, with Mr. D'Onofrio thanking everyone aloud for attending...and calling attention to the reason behind the wedding. Fay manages to save Beverly by announcing that she too is pregnant.
Beverly and Ray move into public housing, where Beverly tries to adjust to live as a teen mother, as Ray goes off to work. Despite the struggles, such as living their lives as adults while their peers enjoy their teen years, Beverly and Fay manage to have some fun while both are pregnant. Wedded life is everything but blissful for Beverly, as Ray comes home from work drunk one day. As the two are fighting, Beverly's water breaks.
Convinced that she and Fay are going to have girls, Beverly is disappointed when she finds out she gave birth to a boy. Her spirits rise when Ray apologizes for his actions, and promises to change. Fay does give birth to a little girl.
Meanwhile, Ray has been neglecting his carpet installation duties at work, frequently showing up late and sometimes not at all. Fay also has problems of her own, when Bobby, still in Vietnam, tells her that he wants to re-enlist. Fay threatens him with divorce, but is unprepared for when he tells her that he also wants the divorce. While this is happening, Jason and Amelia, now toddlers, are becoming friends and enjoying one another's company.
Beverly, now with a GED, then tries to get a scholarship that would allow her to go to college. When she tries to drop off Jason with Ray to keep the appointment, she learns of Ray's frequent absences at work...and he is not there to take Jason. Forced to take her son to the appointment, she interviews for the scholarship, but the tepid reaction from the interviewer when he sees her child forces Beverly to ask him if she is really going to get the scholarship. The interviewer says no.
Beverly comes home and confronts Ray, finding him bent over a car with Lizard, his pot-dealing buddy. Resigned to the fact that she may never make it to college, Beverly takes on a menial job, trying to shut her ears to the coarse remarks of her former classmates.
Beverly and Fay have a visit one cool fall day, and while both are getting high on pills in the backyard of Fay's house, Jason amuses himself by the backyard swimming pool. He steps on the cover and bounces on it, causing it to give way and he falls into the chilly water. Pulling Jason out, Beverly vows to be more attentive.
Later, at Jason's fifth birthday party, Lizard offers Fay a chance to make $160 if she'll let him use her oven to dry out weed for his side "business" of selling marijuana. Fay refuses. Also at the party, Beverly runs into Tommy (a geek whom she rebuffed at the party years ago but now strikingly handsome), now a graduate student at Berkeley, invites her to come out to California, where he tells her the state will pay for her college education. Excited at the prospect of finally fulfilling her dream when Tommy offers her and her family a place to stay, Beverly agrees to discuss the matter with Ray. After some discussion, Ray reluctantly agrees.
But the joy is short-lived. As Beverly packs her bags, Ray takes a walk. Beverly receives a phone call from her mother moments later, asking her to come over. Beverly packs up Jason and goes over, to find that Ray has been feeding a heroin addiction for two years, exhausting all of their savings...including money given him for baby aspirin. Mr. D'Onofrio tells his daughter that he'll take care of his grandson while she helps Ray get clean. Beverly agrees to help her husband, but refuses her father's help in raising her son in the meantime.
Ray comes home high again one evening, and tells Beverly that he can't quit his addiction, asking her to allow him to use a minimal amount per day to keep him straight. Though Ray promises to get a good job, Beverly asks him if he would allow her to make the decision for him that could ruin everyone's lives. Knowing that means choosing his family or his addiction, Ray chooses the latter, taking the time to say good-bye to his son.
Lizard, knowing that money's tight without Ray, offers Beverly $200 an hour to use her oven to dry weed for his ongoing trade. Her refusal results in an emotional eruption between herself and Jason, who is tired of having adult responsibilities and not being able to be a kid. Faced with the reality of "cheating" her child out of the best years of her life, she reconsiders her decision to Lizard. She locks Jason and Amelia out of the house one cold winter day while she, Fay and Lizard dry weed. When Leo shows up to put a winter coat on his grandson, Jason confesses to him what his mother is doing inside. Seeing the police car pull up, Lizard sneaks out of the house.
After hearing the confession, Beverly and Fay are immediately arrested. Fay uses the money Bev was saving for New York to bail her out. Beverly then learns from Fay that she has a fresh start in Arizona waiting for her if she refuses to see Bev again. Reluctant at losing her friend, Fay agrees to go, seeing no other way out. Later, after Fay and Amelia are gone, Jason confesses to his mother that he told his grandfather about the weed. Enraged, Beverly tells her son how he ruined both their lives, and those of Fay and Amelia. At that moment the young Jason wonders if his Mother truly loves him or if she just views him as a burden getting in the way of her dreams.
From there, the movie picks up at the present (set in 1986), where Jason, now a 20-year-old college student, accompanies his mother to a run-down mobile home where Ray, now an alcoholic, is living with Shirley, his present wife. He also meets Jason, whom he hasn't seen since he left. The purpose of the visit: Beverly has spent the past four years writing a book about her life, and it has been accepted, but it won't get published unless Ray agrees to sign a release form. Shirley demands $100,000 from Beverly for Ray's consent. Beverly refuses on the grounds that she never asked Ray for a dime of child support, prompting Shirley to kick them both out of their home.
Jason, who has long put up with his mother's self-pity mongering, finally confronts her when she refuses to get in the car, angry that her son doesn't seem to care about her book, which she claims she did for him. Angry, Jason reminds his mother that his father is living in a hovel, and unwashed, pointing out that she's the one who doesn't care. She storms off. As the argument concludes, Ray walks outside, discreetly handing his son the signed form in an awkward embrace as Shirley watches from inside.
With the form, Jason tracks down his mother, who continues her tirade, stating that she worked hard to keep him together and in one piece, finishing by calling him an ingrate. Jason turns the tables on her by saying that Amelia has asked him to transfer to her school, but he can't bring himself to leave his mother, going further to say that he is what's wrong in her life...and that it was the sole purpose of her book.
Finally confronted with the reality of the book, Beverly breaks down sobbing. Regretful for hurting his mother, Jason pulls out the consent form that Ray signed. No longer wanting the form or the book, Beverly tells him to go to Amelia in Indiana...immediately. Amid his protests, she convinces him to drop her off at a roadside stand, but not before telling him that he was not wrong with everything in her life...that he in fact saved her, and thanking him for it.
Beverly is also surprised when Jason reveals to her that Fay knows of his relationship with Amelia and approves of it, yet Fay said nothing about it to her. Beverly calls her father and asks him to pick her up. On the way home, both sing "All I have to do is Dream" by the Everly Brothers, repeating a scene at the beginning of the movie when Beverly was a young girl sitting in the front seat of her dad's police cruiser.
[edit] Marketing
The film was rather mis-marketed as a fun comedy in the trailers. But this is particularly odd, as the film is more of a dark, sad analysis of life rather than a "fun" movie.
[edit] Details
- Most of the set including the police station and Beverly's apartment were all abandoned buildings on the campus of Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey.
- Portions of the movie were shot in Tuckahoe, New York and Mount Vernon, New York
- The exterior of the wedding scene was shot at a Protestant church, the Clarkstown Reformed Church, in West Nyack, New York. For the filming, the church exterior was dressed up to resemble a Catholic church. The wedding hall sequence was filmed inside the church's annex known as The Fellowship House.
- The real life Beverly and Jason D'Onofrio appear in the movie as guests at Beverly's wedding. They can be seen sitting directly behind Barrymore in the wedding scene.
- When the rights were purchased in 1989 by James L. Brooks, Debra Winger and Cher were considered for the lead.
- The double for Beverly's son was a local New jersey native named Jordon who was in 4 scenes because of the real actor's sickness.
- The actor that plays Jason, Adam Garcia, is about 1 year and 8 months older than Drew Barrymore, who plays his mother.
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