Minutiae tender in Barrymore movie
by Michael Kraft, entertainment editor

    “The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.”

    This saying is true more often than not and describes the life of Beverly Donofrio, the subject of the new movie, Riding in Cars With Boys.

    Drew Barrymore plays Bev Donofrio, and this role shows her range as an actress.

    The story is about a girl who has everything go wrong in her life, but she picks up and carries on.

    Bev is 15 when she meets dropout loser Ray Hasek (Steve Zahn). She and her best friend, Fay, leave a party with Ray and his friend, Robert.

    Both couples wind up in the car getting intimate when a local cop shows up. Unfortunately, it’s Bev’s father (James Woods).

    Bev soon learns that she is pregnant.

    She has many plans for her life, and this unplanned situation is throwing them all away.

    She marries Ray, against her will, and tries to start a life.

    The film illustrates almost perfectly the problems with rearing a child and shows how those problems can be compounded when one lives in poverty.

    The audience can almost feel what Bev is going through.

    She doesn’t work a good job; Ray is a drunken loser who becomes a junky; they have a rambunctious little boy running around, and Bev is trying to get into college on a scholarship program.

    This movie played right into my fears about having life plans messed up, and I think most college and high-school students have the same fears.

    We have our whole lives planned out, even the most trivial pieces of minutiae, and if a wrench gets thrown into the whole works, just what would we each do? How-ever, even though the film has a PG-13 rating and features many actors who have done “teen” movies, it’s not a “teeny” movie. It has serious themes and events that may not be pleasant for some younger viewers.

    As far as performances go, the movie was spectacular.

    Barrymore has such an expressive face, all she has to do is raise an eyebrow and the audience knows what she means.

    Woods was good as the beleaguered father, and Zahn turns in a great performance as the total zero husband.

    The show was stolen, though, by Cody Arens and his brother Logan, who play Jason Hasek, the couple’s young son at 3 (Logan) and 6 (Cody).

    Seven actors played Jason, ranging from birth to 20, but the Arens brothers were memorable.

    These brothers were so precocious and funny that despite short screen time, they were easily the best.

    Riding In Cars With Boys is a good movie that should get the audience laughing, crying and then laughing about what they were crying about.