# Riding in Cars with Boys

Riding in Cars with Boys is a 2001 drama film directed by Penny Marshall, based on the autobigraphy of the same name by Beverly D'Onofrio and starring Drew Barrymore, Steve Zahn, Brittany Murphy and James Woods.

## Beverly D'Onofrio

* [first lines] There on a windswept bluff, he stands waiting. The man of your dreams. The man who'II love you more than anything the rest of your life. You run to each other. Your bodies, your lips...they're coming closer and closer together. Until, finally...you kiss.
* For Christmas I'd like a bra, to enhance what I got, which is a lot more than that Melissa Thomas
* Let me quote myself. [reading from her book] One day can make your life. One day can ruin your life. All life is, is four or five big days that change everything.
* He's very handsome, so don't hit him in the face.
* I didn't go past second base, which means nothing below the waist... my waist, not his.
* [reading from a letter] Dear Mom and Pop, the immediate prospect of you reading this letter so shatters my spirit that it makes me a stranger to myself. Your fears over my behavior, which I thought arbitrary and unreasonably restrictive, seems now the stuff of wisdom. I have terrible news I've been withholding from you. But, like poison from an adder's tongue...I have to spit it out. I am pregnant. Perhaps after the anger for which you have every right to feel, you will remember I am the daughter you loved. Beverly.
* I woke up this morning, truly believing that by this afternoon, my life would be different. Not only because it was my dream, but because l'd earned it. And now look at me. It's 3:30 in the afternoon, and I'm just another housewife yelling at her husband in front of the neighbours. Yeah, that's me!
* I want to make something clear. I don't think I would've been better off without you. You are not what went wrong with anything. You were what saved me. I want to thank you for that. Okay?
* [last lines] Jason blames me for everything that's happened in his life. Can you imagine?

## Raymond Hasek

* My dad always said my head was hard as a rock. He broke his hand on it twice.
* [to young Jason] You're gonna hear a lot of bad things about me, but only two of the three things are gonna be right. Okay? So when you hear something that's really, really bad...you try to think that's the one time they're wrong, okay?
* [reads from a letter] Dear Beverly, Please don't go crazy when you hear this. But I regret to inform you that I am a junkie. I spent all our money on heroin. I spent everything. I even spent the money for Jason's aspirin on a fix. It was just a tiny fix. But I spent that too.
* [to Jason] I used to feel real bad about leaving you and all. Then, a couple of years ago, your Ma sent me a letter, saying what a nice kid you were. What a good man you turned out to be. I'd like to think I had a lot to do with that...Even if all I did was stay away...it's still the best thing I ever did in my life.

## Jason Hasek

* This is why therapists are so wealthy, moments like this. Why didn't he just get her the bra? It's certainly cheaper than a bicycle. Parents and the damage they can do, sometimes it's endless. But you know what they say: that which doesn't kill you makes you want to die.
* If she was from the South, she would have turned her life into a country song. Since she's from Connecticut, she turned it into a book, a memoir.
* I can always tell if she's nervous, she wears a lot of make up. Today she's piled on an extra layer of nervous.
* You're supposed to be the mother! I'm supposed to be the kid!
* Do me a favor. Just pretend to be a good mother for two minutes. Just two minutes out of your whole life. Okay?

## Fay Forrester

* I just wanted to say how beautiful Bev looks tonight. And to wish her all the happiness in the world. Now that I've said it, maybe one of you could say it too.
* If you're so great for being here, don't talk to me, either. Okay? Because I'm pregnant too.
* Sometimes we love people so much that we have to be numb to it. Because if we actually felt how much we love them, it would kill us. That doesn't make you a bad person. It just means your heart's too big.

## Others

    Tommy Butcher: Someone once said a coward and a hero have one thing in common: fear. You may be scared, but you're no coward.
    Leonardo D'Onofrio: [to Beverly] You were special. And you ruined your life. And you broke my heart.
    Leonardo D'Onofrio: [at Beverly's wedding] There are times in a man's life when there is cause to celebrate. And finding friends to celebrate with is easy. But then there are times like this. And if people are still there, those are his real friends, his real family. We all know what brought us here. And the fact you still saw it in your hearts to come....Well, you're in my heart forever. :[raises his glass] Salut.
    Amelia Forrester: [to Jason] Someday you'll stop raising her. You've been doing it your whole life. You're young. You deserve to be young. We deserve to be young together.

## Dialogue

    Beverly: Let me wear that dress. Fay: What? Beverly: Fay, if I even look half as beautiful as you in that dresss there's no way Sky Barister won't notice me. Tina Barr: You can wear my dress. Beverly: No. Fay [she observes Bev's dress but is reluctant] I... No, Bev. It won't fit. Beverly: Fay, you gotta let me wear that dress. Fay: Why? Beverly: Because I love you. [Fay ponders] Please, please, please. Fay: All right.
    Beverly: I don't wanna go home yet. [moves closer to him] Ray: But, I....Listen. Don't. Beverly, listen. You shouldn't get mixed up with me. I'm no good. Beverly: You look good to me. Open your eyes. Don't take them off of me. [kisses him]
    Girl: That girlfriend of yours sure likes that horn. Jason: She's not my girlfriend. She's my mother. Girl: Your mother?
    Fay: Okay, pretend that I'm your parents, say what your gonna say. Beverly: Okay, Mom, Pop? Fay: Yeah? Beverly: I don't know how to say this... Fay: But... Beverly: I'm pregnant. Fay: My daughter's a tramp! My daughter's a tramp! You're 15 years old, how could you do this to me? You make me sick to my stomach.Why don't you just take my gun. Take my gun and shoot me in the head with it tramp! I wish that you were never born! OKay go.
    Ray: Please marry me, Bev. Because I'm shit without you. Beverly: Oh how romantic... a marriage proposal that contains the word "shit".
    Beverly: The only person that's even looked at me is my crazy Aunt Mildy who keeps calling me Agnes, which is my dead cousin! Aunt Mildy: [waves to Beverly] Agnes! Beverly: Hi, Mildy. Aunt Mildy [blows Bev a kiss] I love you!
    Nurse: [placing baby Jason in Bev's arms, wrapped in blankets] This is one of the most beautiful baby boys I've ever seen. Beverly: [pushes the baby away] I didn't have a boy, I had a girl. Ray: No, we had a boy. Don't you remember? Beverly:No I had a boy. I told Fay we'd both have girls and they'd be just like us. Ray: No, we had a boy. So he's going to grow up and be just like me. Nurse: Try feeding him for a little while. I'll be back in five minutes. Beverly: I'll try. [opens the blankets ] It's a boy. Ray: It sure is. It's a boy. Beverly: [cries] No!
    Beverly: [Bev is changing Jason] Aaaaah! Aaaaah! [Races to the bathroom and starts brushing her teeth] Mrs. Teresa D'Onofrio: What? What happened? Beverly: He peed in my mouth! Mrs. Teresa D'Onofrio: [Laughs] Ha ha ha. Jason,come here. you make your grandma so happy.(kisses jason) look mommy. mommy pee pee mouth
    [after Jason falls into a hot tub and she is still holding him half in it] Beverly: I promise from now on I'm going to be more attentive. DO you know what attentive means? Jason: No. Beverly: OK.I'm going to be more responsible. Do you know what responsible means? Jason No. Beverly: [drops him back into hot tub] For crying out loud!
    Jason: Who says I'm in one piece? Who? Beverly: You're the most normal person I know. Jason: Normal? Normal? Amelia was in New York two weeks ago. She wants me to transfer. She wants me to enroll in her school. But I can't go. I can't leave you. Cause if something bad happens...[crying]... it's my fault. I'm what went wrong in your life. You know, you wrote a book about it. I swore I wouldn't - Did you know that I love Amelia? Don't worry, she left already. Here's the funny thing. She thinks I can't love her because she can't make me happy... and damn it, she's the only good thing in my life. I'm just incredibly screwed up. Just so we're real clear about this, I blame you. Beverly: When does this job ever end? Jason: You call it a job? Beverly: Well, what do you think it is? A calling?

## Taglines

* Based on a true story.
* The story of a girl who did everything wrong, but got everything right.
* One day can make your life; one day can ruin your life. All life is is four or five big days that change everything.
* Beverly could've had it all. Instead, she had a son.

## Cast

* Drew Barrymore - Beverly Donofrio
* Steve Zahn - Raymond Hasek
* Adam Garcia - Jason Hasek
* Brittany Murphy - Fay Forrester
* James Woods - Mr. Leonard Donofrio
* Lorraine Bracco - Mrs. Teresa Donofrio
* Rosie Perez - Shirley Perro
* Sara Gilbert - Tina Barr
* Peter Facinelli - Tommy Butcher
* Mika Boorem - Beverly Donofrio - Age 11
* Celine Marget - Janet Donofrio - Age 8
* Vincent Pastore - Uncle Lou
* Maryann Urbano - Aunt Ann
* Alexia Landeau - Jenny
* Kristin Proctor - Cindy
* Temple Brooks - Karen
* Desmond Harrington - Bobby
* Jordan Gelber - Kevin
* Gabriel Carpenter - Sky Barrister
* Kevin Thoms - Mark

## External links

* Riding in Cars with Boys quotes at the Internet Movie Database