Riding in Cars with Boys

At the tender age of 15-years-old, Beverly Donofrio (Barrymore) falls pregnant. Since her parents, Leonard (Woods) and Eileen (Bracco), are respectable members of the community, they insist that she get married to her dim but good-hearted boyfriend, Ray (Zahn) and forget about her dreams of attending university. Complying with their wishes, Beverly still holds out hope of making something of her life, despite the presence of her son, Jason and that directionless hubby. While the premise of Riding in Cars with Boys sounds like straight-to-video fodder, it's not quite as bad as you might think. Admittedly, it's a trifle lengthy and melodramatic (one woman who defies the odds), but the characters are presented in a reasonably realistic light and the director doesn't back away from showing flaws in her heroine. To her credit, Barrymore is plausible and gives a reasonably decent account of herself. However, the real plaudits should be reserved for Steve Zahn, who is simply remarkable as the hopeless Ray. Someone give this man his own movie right now.