Riding in Cars with Boys

Boston Globe Jay Carr

As a flawed but lovably lionhearted woman, Barrymore triumphantly comes of age as an actress.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

It's Zahn's heartbreaking performance that drives Riding in Cars with Boys.

USA Today Claudia Puig

It's Barrymore's most ambitious role to date. She proves she is maturing as an actress.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Barrymore gives a performance that's nuanced, assured and captivating.

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.

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.

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.

Time Richard Schickel

It is somewhat repetitive, but it is also wonderfully acted, especially by Barrymore.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's just another case of mourning over what might have been.

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.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

When Barrymore finally gets mean, the movie finally gets good. Then comes another sing-along, dammit.

Film Threat Michael Dequina

Whatever distinguished "Riding in Cars with Boys" the book certainly doesn't show up in the movie.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

A messy, woefully uneven chick flick.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Needs someone to roll down a window and let in some fresh air.

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.

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.

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.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

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

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.

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.

Variety Robert Koehler

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

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

It's as if the filmmakers, having committed themselves to the book, fled from its essence, which is wildness.

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.

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.

Slate David Edelstein

There's no dramatic trajectory here at all.

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.

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.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Mistakes self-pitying embitterment for carry-on endurance, and manages to have its causality both ways.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Hardly out of the driveway before director Penny Marshall loses control.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

They try to make Beverly adorable, and the movie comes off strained and dishonest as a result.

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.