Riding in Cars with Boys Critic Reviews

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

A film like this is refreshing and startling in the way it cuts loose from formula and shows us confused lives we recognize.Read the full review

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

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.Read the full review

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

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

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

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

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.Read the full review