Riding in Cars with Boys: Because it's Penny Marshall's Birthday #SaturdayMatinee

Penny Marshall is  celebrating her birthday today. The actor/director with the comic bent —it must run in the family, her brother was director Gary Marshall—turns 73. In addition to being a three time Golden Globe nominee for playing Laverne on the classic Laverne & Shirley sitcom (created by her bro), Marshall is probably best known for directing A League of their Own and Big, along with today’s Saturday Matinee, Driving in Cars with Boys. I haven’t seen the movie in ages but the book, Beverly Donofrio’s memoir sounds like something I’d want to read.

Denied college, Beverly Donofrio lost interest in everything but riding around town in cars, drinking and smoking, and rebelling against authority. She got married and divorced and finally ended up in an elite New England university, books in one arm, child in the other. A book about the compromise between being your own person and fitting into society.

Riding in Town with Boys stars Drew Barrymore*, Steve Zahn*, Adam Garcia, Rosie Perez, Brittany Murphy, James Woods and Lorraine Bracco. 

Roger Ebert gave the film a three star review—

‘A film like this is refreshing and startling in the way it cuts loose from formula and shows us confused lives we recognize. Hollywood tends to reduce stories like this to simplified redemption parables in which the noble woman emerges triumphant after a lifetime of surviving loser men. This movie is closer to the truth: A lot depends on what happens to you, and then a lot depends on how you let it affect you. Life has not been kind to Beverly, and Beverly has not been kind to life. Maybe there'll be another book in a few years where she sees how, in some ways, she can blame herself.’

Riding in Cars with Boys is available to stream today on Amazon, YouTube, iTunes, Vudu, GooglePlay and on HBO Go. Think of it as a way to let Penny Marshall know you’re thinking of her.

*My husband worked with Drew Barrymore, watching over the three Charlie’s Angels as they trained in marshall arts for the movie. He loved all three of the women. Surprise, surprise! We went to the wrap party at Drew’s home, an experience I haven’t written about. He also worked with Steve Zahn in That Thing You Do in 1995. I’ve written about working background in That Thing You Do on SimCarter.com