BOYS ON THE SIDE
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1995 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker, Drew Barrymore. Screenplay: Don Roos. Director: Herbert Ross.
I have nothing against that ever-growing sub-genre of American filmmaking known as the "chick flick;" however, I do have a problem with the idea that women will flock to any slapdash attempt at a sob story, any muddled mess which happens to include female friends, mothers and daughters and truckloads of tragedy. Hollywood knows a lot about how to market films to women, but it has done a pretty miserable job of making them. Fortunately, BOYS ON THE SIDE is that rare creation, an emotional film that actually takes the time to develop characters, although it goes a bit overboard in its third act.
BOYS ON THE SIDE begins in New York, where night club singer Jane DeLuca (Whoopi Goldberg) is experiencing something of a career downturn. She decides to try her luck in Los Angeles, and looks for someone to share a ride. She finds Robin Nickerson (Mary-Louise Parker), a prim real estate agent looking for a change of scenery, and the very odd couple begins their cross-country trek. Along the way they are joined by Jane's friend Holly (Drew Barrymore), who is fleeing from an abusive relationship, and the three women take to the road. But circumstances force them to stop before L.A., and the relationships between the three friends are complicated by love, illness, pregnancy and a murder trial.
The first half of BOYS ON THE SIDE is surprisingly funny and effective, thanks largely to three winning performances by Goldberg, Parker and Barrymore. Goldberg has coasted quite a bit lately, playing the same hipper-than-thou character with a perpetual furrow in her brow as she deals with dopey white folks, but she is quite good here. Her Jane is more layered, a lesbian with an unfortunate habit of falling for straight women, and Goldberg is solid in a more emotional role than any she has tackled since THE COLOR PURPLE. Parker is a more subtle actress, and she has to be in a role that easily could have become a fussy stereotype; instead, Robin is an extremely sympathetic and appealing character. But it is Drew Barrymore who steals every scene she is in as the hopelessly flirtatious Holly. There is a positively infectious energy in her performance, and the scene in which the three women subdue her drug dealing boyfriend includes several hilarious highlights.
BOYS ON THE SIDE is very funny, but there is more to it than that. Director Herbert Ross (who previously covered similar ground in STEEL MAGNOLIAS) makes some interesting choices which add real depth to the characters and play against expectations. In one early scene, Robin sprays disinfectant on Jane's headphones before using them, and Goldberg gives us a "you've got to be kidding" reaction shot. But that moment takes on a different resonance when it is revealed that Robin has AIDS, and might be taking basic precautions. Similarly, it is a surprise when Jane refuses to hold Robin's hand after learning of her illness, since we expect a nearly divine level of understanding from gay characters, but that moment is complicated by the realization that Jane might be falling for Robin, and that pulling away is just a way of expressing her fear of those emotions.
There are numerous surprises like that, both funny and touching, throughout the first half of BOYS ON THE SIDE, but the second half is much more uneven. Once the women stop in Tuscon, much of the film's energy stops with them, and humor inevitably gives way to bathos. The relationship between Holly and an earnest young cop (Matthew McConaughey) is fairly silly, and the relationship between Robin and a bartender (James Remar) is hampered by his complete blandness as a character. Most frustrating is a murder sub-plot, which is largely unnecessary and symptomatic of screenwriter Don Roos' tendency to pile far too much into far too little time. This is a film about the friendships between these three women, and it seriously falters when those friendships are not the focus of the story. When they are the focus, BOYS ON THE SIDE does exactly what it sets out to do: it makes you laugh, it makes you sad, and it makes you care.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 boys on the side: 7.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews