Review of Boys on the Side (1995) by Antony S — 20 Mar 2007

The adage 'feminist road movie' is probably overused in description of this picture, but it is perfectly apt.

Three wildly contrasting young women set out on the road after one party's boyfriend becomes violent. They incapacitate him, but a few days into the journey, he is reported dead. The trio flee in panic, and in the process get into various situations that require them to pull together despite differences.

Boys On The Side is well acted, the leads are pretty convincing in their roles as modern lesbian, bookish housewife and, well, tart, and the script does allow for some top comedy moments (Barrymore reads 'morte' - "Who's Morty?", and various sight gags), all of which keep the tone mature and affecting.

Unfortunately it does suffer from the typical Hollywood rot setting in about fifty minutes in, in which the rest of the yarn becomes painfully predictable. Relationships are broken, there's a handsome stud, disease/disfigurement, lessons are learned, yadda, yadda, yadda. Oh, and there's some cast singing too. I can be subjective about chick flicks, and this is certainly better than most. But when the plot more or less gives up in defeat after some sparkling opening scenes, they're never going to command more respect than from the already intended audience. Worthwhile.