An enjoyable enough movie based on the autobiography of Beverley Donofrio stars Drew Barrymore as Beverley. The movie begins with Beverly just at the point of getting her autobiography published, but having to find her ex-husband Ray (played by Steve Zahn) and get him to sign a release promising no legal action against the publishers, so she sets off with son Jason (Adam Garcia) to find him.
The rest of the movie is largely in the form of flashbacks as we discover the contents of the book. Beverly grows up from a precocious child to a pregnant teenager, unhappy housewife, less than stellar mom and eventually successful writer. We discover that her relationship with her father (James Woods) faltered after she became pregnant because he felt personally ashamed in front of his friends at this scandal, her relationship with her husband (Jason's father) never had a chance because of his drug addiction and general lack of responsibility, and her relationship with her son was strained because, deep down, she really felt that he had prevented her from achieving all the success she had hoped for.
It strikes a delicate balance between being funny and sad, but in the end I found it unsatisfying in spite of good performances all around because nothing ever really seemed to me to get tied up (except perhaps the relationship between Jason and Ray) although in the end there was hope for Beverly and her dad. But, life isn't a movie and things aren't always satisfying.
I enjoyed it. Think it might have been a bit over-rated, but still worth a 6/10.
The rest of the movie is largely in the form of flashbacks as we discover the contents of the book. Beverly grows up from a precocious child to a pregnant teenager, unhappy housewife, less than stellar mom and eventually successful writer. We discover that her relationship with her father (James Woods) faltered after she became pregnant because he felt personally ashamed in front of his friends at this scandal, her relationship with her husband (Jason's father) never had a chance because of his drug addiction and general lack of responsibility, and her relationship with her son was strained because, deep down, she really felt that he had prevented her from achieving all the success she had hoped for.
It strikes a delicate balance between being funny and sad, but in the end I found it unsatisfying in spite of good performances all around because nothing ever really seemed to me to get tied up (except perhaps the relationship between Jason and Ray) although in the end there was hope for Beverly and her dad. But, life isn't a movie and things aren't always satisfying.
I enjoyed it. Think it might have been a bit over-rated, but still worth a 6/10.