Riding in cars with boys (Collector's Edition) [DVD]

Beverly is a 1960s teenager - bright, ambitious and fostering dreams of becoming a writer when she falls pregnant and marries her boyfriend, despite her ambivalence toward him. Feeling trapped in a dreary marriage to an unmotivated drunkard, Beverly seeks to improve her life by studying for a degree - a goal that she hopes will relieve the monotony of her life. Set over twenty years, the film follows Beverly’s mixed fortunes as she struggles with an unfulfilling marriage, thwarted dreams and demands of being a parent. Beverly faces her travails with her best friend Fay, also a teenage mother, with whom she shares many experiences. In the title role Barrymore expresses impish frustration (as opposed to unbridled rage) at the numerous calamities that befall her. With an eventful narrative about family - especially mothers and sons, fathers and daughters - the dramatic intentions of the film, littered with scenes which strive for poignancy, are undermined by the fostering of a lightweight comic tone. In the acting stakes the standouts are Brittany Murphy as Fay and James Woods as Beverly’s dad. Directed by Penny Marshall (Big, A League of their own) and based on the book and true-life experiences of Beverly Donofrio.