You can't say there aren't good roles written for women after having seen Boys On The Side. Three plumb parts are written here for Mary Louise Parker, Whoopi Goldberg, and Drew Barrymore and another good one for Anita Gillette as Parker's mother.
Parker is in need of someone to share road expenses on a move west and Goldberg answers an advertisement in New York. When they get to Pittsburgh they add on a pregnant Drew Barrymore fleeing from an abusive drug dealing boyfriend Billy Wirth.
The last time I saw a film with a plot premise like this was Kalifornia where David Duchovny takes on a psychotic Brad Pitt as a traveling companion with their respective women. That one was deadly serious and I do mean deadly film. In a much lighter vein Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland got Burns&Allen and a large great dane in Six Of A Kind.
Boys On The Side falls between these other films in its humor ratio. The trenchant observations the women have about life and love are the best part of the film. All three have secrets we all learn, one of them is dying.
Best two scenes in the film are Goldberg on the stand giving as good as she gets with prosecutor Dennis Boutsikaris and Parker and Gillette having a good mother and daughter hair letting down.
Matthew McConaughey got some early attention here as a deputy sheriff who falls for Barrymore. It's a real difficult part and I'm not sure McConaughey avoided being too much a Dudley Do-Right.
Still more than just cast member fans will find something to like with Boys On The Side. It will grow on you.
Parker is in need of someone to share road expenses on a move west and Goldberg answers an advertisement in New York. When they get to Pittsburgh they add on a pregnant Drew Barrymore fleeing from an abusive drug dealing boyfriend Billy Wirth.
The last time I saw a film with a plot premise like this was Kalifornia where David Duchovny takes on a psychotic Brad Pitt as a traveling companion with their respective women. That one was deadly serious and I do mean deadly film. In a much lighter vein Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland got Burns&Allen and a large great dane in Six Of A Kind.
Boys On The Side falls between these other films in its humor ratio. The trenchant observations the women have about life and love are the best part of the film. All three have secrets we all learn, one of them is dying.
Best two scenes in the film are Goldberg on the stand giving as good as she gets with prosecutor Dennis Boutsikaris and Parker and Gillette having a good mother and daughter hair letting down.
Matthew McConaughey got some early attention here as a deputy sheriff who falls for Barrymore. It's a real difficult part and I'm not sure McConaughey avoided being too much a Dudley Do-Right.
Still more than just cast member fans will find something to like with Boys On The Side. It will grow on you.