Boys On The Side movie review (1995)
Those who know Barrymore from her adolescent headlines in the supermarket trash press may not realize that in movies like "Guncrazy" (1992), she has been developing into an actress of great natural zest and conviction. The difficult emotional scenes in "Boys on the Side" belong to Goldberg and Parker, but it is Barrymore whose spirit somehow draws them together into a family. And the movie gets a lot of comedy out of the Barrymore character's tempestuous love affair with a Tucson cop named Abraham Lincoln (Matthew McConaughey), who is an absolute straight arrow, and at one point does the most incredible thing and then explains, "I take this name seriously! I cannot tell a lie." The others groan: "That was George Washington, schmuck!" As for the other two women, they just get stronger and stronger as the movie goes on. Goldberg so often wastes her time (in movies like "Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit") that her work here is a reminder of such great past roles as "The Color Purple" and "The Long Walk Home." It is an exercise in restraint: She is wise, grown up and calm.
She never reaches for an effect, never goes for a laugh that isn't right there in her hand, and deals with her character's lesbianism in a way that can perhaps be called good manners: Yes, she is gay, but she doesn't believe in imposing her choice on others, and it is only gradually that we realize what the stillness of her heart can contain. She can also be very funny. Her take on some lesbians: "They're very emotional, they love uniforms, and don't break their hearts. Especially UPS uniforms." The Parker character is a series of revelations, some sad, some delightful; the way she handles the violent Nick is one of the bravura scenes in recent movies, and we get the impression the other actors want to applaud as much as the audience does. Later, she has a couple of big emotional scenes that are played on exactly the right notes. Look, for example, at the way she sees a piano that is a gift, and bites her lower lip. A tiny gesture, but the right one.
The reviews for "Boys on the Side" will mention "Fried Green Tomatoes" and "Thelma and Louise," because it shares their assorted themes: female bonding, unexpressed love, women on the run. But this movie is not a collection of parts from other films. It's an original, and what it does best is show how strangers can become friends, and friends can become like family.
To get to know someone is very difficult, but if you really do, they should be able to tell you almost anything, and ask you almost anything, and that is where "Boys on the Side" is leading us.
By the end, it has prepared its ground so completely that the final powerful scenes can be played very quietly. Some people sing a song. A room is empty, and the camera remembers who was in it. And we miss them.
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