THREE STARS – THOUGHT-PROVOKING

The authenticity of Beverly D’Onofrio’s autobiographical tale is masterfully portrayed by Drew Barrymore as Beverly. Weaving together the strands of her life from the beginning of adolescence until she writes her book at age 35, D’Onofrio takes us along for a ride that is full of the pathos and consequences of her life’s decisions.

Looking back on the events that placed her where she is, Beverly notes that in any person’s life, there are four or five days that determine the direction and destination of life. Like forks in the road, the decisions made on those days have a disproportionate impact on the remainder of our lives and can seldom be reversed.

The first car ride in which Beverly made such a choice was with her father (James Woods) on Christmas as they were going to get her gift. When asked if she wants a bike, she brashly proclaims that she wants a bra to accentuate her developing body. As her father rejects her request, Beverly quietly withdraws from him and begins to look to other men to affirm her sexuality.

This choice sets the stage for her encounter with Raymond (Steve Zahn) whose moronic chivalry seduces her in the front seat of his car. Choosing to become intimate with him, Beverly is forced to marry Raymond when she becomes pregnant at only fifteen years of age.

Only a child herself and driven to make something of her life, Beverly decrees that her son Jason (Adam Garcia) is not going to ruin her life. A good writer with a fine mind, Beverly studies hard to pass her high school equivalency, get a good SAT score and secure a scholarship to go to college at NYU.

But at the moment of her scholarship interview, Raymond’s addictions to alcohol and heroin impair his ability to watch their son and it costs Beverly her opportunity. Realizing that Raymond is going to be destructive to both her and Jason’s lives, Beverly decides to force Raymond to leave them.

Though this is a decision that most would make in such a moment, the impact on Beverly and Jason is that it steals Jason’s childhood. Rather than Beverly having a grown man to be her partner in her goals for her life, she demands this cooperation from Jason. In one very powerful moment, Jason proclaims to her that they are not partners, that he is a child and she is supposed to be his mother.

This decision to confuse the nature of their relationship is clearly seen in the ride Beverly takes with Jason when he is twenty and she needs to go to Raymond’s home to get his release on the book she has written of their life. This ride in the car is symbolic of the journey of their lives as Jason sublimates his own needs to help his mother meet hers. It is what happens on this ride with Jason that sets the stage for the final ride in a car with her father that seems to bring closure to the tumultuous first half of her life.

In most of our lives, the beginnings of our journeys are filled with behaviors we regret and opportunities we miss. Though the road cannot be reversed, acceptance and forgiveness both for ourselves and others can help us find the straight and narrow way and good company for the ride.