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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

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Momma's Man
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83
Trouble the Water
83
U2 3D
82
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82
Rachel Getting Married
82
Frozen River
82
Let the Right One In
81
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
79
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
78
I've Loved You So Long
77
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
76
Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
75
Pool, The
73
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Frost/Nixon
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I Served the King of England
70
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We Are Wizards
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55
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51
Morning Light
50
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43
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43
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40
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34
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34
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32
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31
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30
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28
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27
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26
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xx
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Extreme Movie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Riding in Cars with Boys
Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for thematic elements, drug and sexual content
Starring
Drew Barrymore,
Sara Gilbert,
Steve Zahn,
Brittany Murphy,
Lorraine Bracco,
James Woods,
and
Vincent Pastore
The fresh, funny, touching and unbelievably true story of writer Beverly D'Onofrio (played by Barrymore, who ages from 15 to 35 in the role) and her often irreverent, always unique personal journey. (Columbia Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Beverly D'Onofrio (book)
Morgan Ward
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Penny Marshall
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: March 19, 2002
Video: March 19, 2002
Theatrical: October 19, 2001
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
132 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
88
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
As a flawed but lovably lionhearted woman, Barrymore triumphantly comes of age as an actress.
80
Mr. Showbiz
Kevin Maynard
It's Zahn's heartbreaking performance that drives Riding in Cars with Boys.
75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
It's Barrymore's most ambitious role to date. She proves she is maturing as an actress.

75
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
Barrymore gives a performance that's nuanced, assured and captivating.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
A film like this is refreshing and startling in the way it cuts loose from formula and shows us confused lives we recognize.

75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Paula Nechak
What emerges is a funny and sometimes aching movie that treads familiar dysfunctional family turf but still manages to eke out an emotionally toned balance.

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
It's the kind of film -- like Diane Keaton's "Hanging Up" -- that even as it dissolves narratively, still makes you dissolve emotionally.

70
Time
Richard Schickel
It is somewhat repetitive, but it is also wonderfully acted, especially by Barrymore.

63
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
It's just another case of mourning over what might have been.

60
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
As the movie jumps back and forth in time, it displays an impressive cut-and-paste agility, skillfully interweaving humor and drama without tipping over into farce or soap opera.

58
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
When Barrymore finally gets mean, the movie finally gets good. Then comes another sing-along, dammit.

50
Film Threat
Michael Dequina
Whatever distinguished "Riding in Cars with Boys" the book certainly doesn't show up in the movie.

50
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
A messy, woefully uneven chick flick.

50
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Needs someone to roll down a window and let in some fresh air.

50
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
An article of faith for girls who just wanna have fun; only problem is that the movie doesn't go all the way.

50
Miami Herald
Connie Ogle
What's lacking is any sense of Beverly's brightness. She's supposedly smart, but she never displays a shred of intelligence.

50
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
It's a bitter story played for humor, in which a callous character is never quite allowed to see herself as such.

42
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
It's Zahn who truly conveys what Marshall and Barrymore are going for -- laughing through your tears.

40
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
Thank God for Barrymore: When Beverly's water breaks and she looks down at her feet and cries, "This is so gross," you know how good this actress can be, and how good this movie might have been.

40
TV Guide
Steve Simels
Added bonuses: A nice selection of oldies on the soundtrack, and an amusing third-act cameo by Rosie Perez as Ray's second wife.

40
Variety
Robert Koehler
The result under Penny Marshall's direction is a film with genuinely serious intentions that falls considerably short of its intentions.

40
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
It's as if the filmmakers, having committed themselves to the book, fled from its essence, which is wildness.
40
LA Weekly
Chuck Wilson
In many ways, Marshall and Barrymore are an equal match -- while both have a flair for the small touches that build a good comic scene, each lacks the complex layering of motive and emotion that make a human life believably real.

30
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Buried under the miscalculations, the shamelessness, the off-putting and inappropriate broadness are sporadically visible souvenirs of a good project gone bad, hints of the unusual, bittersweet story that got away.

30
Slate
David Edelstein
There's no dramatic trajectory here at all.

30
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Every scene is coated with Marshall's thumbprints, ultimately connecting into a manhandled, mangled, misshapen whole, its themes written out in thunderously obvious cues.

30
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
But by the end of the movie -- which seems to last longer than the Crusades -- all the good stuff has dissipated.

30
Village Voice
Jessica Winter
Mistakes self-pitying embitterment for carry-on endurance, and manages to have its causality both ways.

30
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
Hardly out of the driveway before director Penny Marshall loses control.

25
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
They try to make Beverly adorable, and the movie comes off strained and dishonest as a result.

10
New Times (L.A.)
Robert Wilonsky
An overlong compendium of Oprah moments meant to move and inspire, even if, by the end, it's too exhausted with itself to offer up a single authentic tear or revelation.


The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
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