Random Thoughts, Notes, & Incidents

It was a movie weekend. Yesterday we saw Riding in Cars with Boys, the Drew Barrymore picture. Quite good, even better, perhaps, than Bandits, which we saw on Saturday. Riding in Cars is more of a "chick flick" and Bandits more of a movie for the guys, but they're both crossover movies.
Penny Marshall did an excellent direction job, and all the performances are strong, especially Steve Zahn as Drew's troubled, drug-addicted, idiot husband.

Based on a true story, Cars is the tale of a "girl who did everything wrong, but still got everything right" (or some such advertising drivel). Knocked up at 15, in 1968, Drew's character is coerced into marrying her drop-out boyfriend and giving up her dreams of going to NYU and becoming a writer. Of course, after twenty years of struggle, she does achieve her ambition, publishing the memoir, "Riding in Cars with Boys."

Drew, Zahn, and a few others, play their characters from age 15 to about 38 and nearly pull it off. I might have believed Barrymore as 18, but not quite 15. At least she didn't insist on playing the character at age 9. Other than that, a solid picture, with a hearty recommend. I wouldn't be surprised if this picked up a few nominations come Oscar time (adaption screenplay, supporting actor for Zahn, maybe others).