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An Exercise In Nonsense

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Boys on the side (1995) is a film that I really enjoy. It has so much heart, it's very emotional and sentimental. I like what you might call "sappy" films sometimes, they just fill me up, heavy dramas are necessary at times. There is heavy emotional drama here, and there's also some good well done comedic relief worked in a few parts too. The cast really lifts this film up. Whoopi Goldberg, Mary Louise Parker, and Drew Barrymore all turn in fine performances here, Goldberg and Parker especially. I don't wanna discount or belittle Barrymore's acting here, it's just that the other two main stars had more to work with content wise. They also had a lot of well done scenes that emphasized both their acting skills and the great onscreen chemistry they shared. The writing is overall pretty well done. I loved the dialogue between Parker and Goldberg, their whole subplot together was just really well done. It brought a lot more meaning to the film as a whole. You'll definitely walk away from this one feeling heavy. It's just that kind of film, but it's good that i felt that way because that just means that everything the filmmakers were trying to do worked. I do suggest this emotional female friendship drama, it's one that will make you cry and feel happy at the same time. 8/10.

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.

Count the chick-flick conventions: The revenge on the abusive boyfriend; the three so-different young women bonding; the mother-daughter conflicts; the road trip; the scene where somebody sings "Happy Birthday" to somebody amid much general rejoicing; the adorable baby; the tear-wringing incurable-disease character; etc. It's well-written -- Don Roos, who later wrote the superb screenplay to "The Opposite of Sex," puts more curve on his dialog than most toiling in this genre -- but as with many sisters-united-in-adversity epics, it keeps wanting to yank emotions out of you rather than earn them honestly. The three leads are good, a young Matthew McConnaughey isn't yet annoying, and there are nice turns from Estelle Parsons and Anita Gillette, a Broadway baby decades earlier who matured into a proficient character actress. But Herb Ross is in his take-no-chances mode, and too much of the picture feels programmed and rote.

"Boys on the Side" tells of an unlikely trio of females who take a road trip and discover each has issues which require the support of the others. Thus forms the glue which holds together Goldberg, Parker, and Barrymore and the conglomeration of characters which coalesce around them in this sentimental tale with humor, charm, and poignancy and its share of sappy, weepy, and corny moments. Worthy of being labeled a "chick flick", "Boys..." makes for an entertaining watch for females...and their boys on the side.