Product Details

• Actors: Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker, Drew Barrymore, Matthew McConaughey, James Remar
• Directors: Herbert Ross
• Writers: Don Roos
• Producers: Herbert Ross, Arnon Milchan, Don Roos, Patricia Karlan, Patrick McCormick
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 2, 1997
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303484301
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,969 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This female-bonding film takes your basic soap opera and twists it inside out. Although director Herbert Ross draws superb performances from his actresses, he occasionally wallows in that maudlin, Hollywood melodrama in which close-ups are crucial. Remember, this is the man who directed Steel Magnolias. However, Ross also does something you don't expect: he makes you fall in love with his characters. Whoopi Goldberg is a down-on-her luck singer who hopes to start over in Los Angeles. Mary-Louise Parker is the realtor whose life is going nowhere. After Goldberg answers Parker's ad in the paper for a companion to drive to LA, these two completely different women grudgingly find themselves emotionally involved. Drew Barrymore enters the picture on the first leg of the trip when Goldberg insists on visiting her. After battling with her drug-dealing boyfriend, the flighty, sexy Barrymore throws in with them. During their trek west, the women learn to take life as it lands on them while recognizing true friendship. The film is enlightened in that it accepts the complications and blurred family ties of the '90s. At the heart of the story is the realization that people can expand past expected boundaries. The movie gels in other areas as well. The all-female soundtrack is powerful and works to underscore, not overpower, certain scenes. The same can be said of the supporting cast, specifically Anita Gillette and James Remar. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sweet, moving, funny and very real, August 5, 2002

By 

Shelley Gammon "Geek" (Kaufman, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Boys on the Side (DVD)

Mary-Louise Parker is phenomenal as the pill-popping neurotic realtor that puts in a classified ad for a traveling comanion on her trek to the west coast. The one who answers her ad is a dred-lock-wearing black lesbian (played masterfully by Whoopi Goldberg)... and both are a little startled by each other and how contrasting their lives are. Parker is slightly horrified that her traveling companion is gay and Goldberg is very horrified that she's going to be trapped in a car for over a week with this psycho, anal woman.

Goldberg's character makes a quick diversion to visit a friend (Drew Barrymore) and a crazy turn of events puts Barrymore in the van with Goldberg and Parker.

The three of them all have skeletons in their closets and all sorts of emotional baggage that they have not dealt with, much less shared with anyone else. This dynamic mix of diverse personalities is first a cauldron of irritation, frustration and prejudices, but together the women face some crazy circumstances that bring them together.

It turns out they all have much more in common than they realized. There are very touching scenes where only the most stone-hearted individual will not feel a crack in their throat... and there are scenes that will make you laugh so hard, you might just lose bladder control.

Themes include family, loyalty, race, bigotry, domestic violence, unrequited love, romance, loss, terminal illness and death. This may seem like a lot of themes for just one movie, but the film is so real, you feel like you're one of the girls in the van, hanging out with them. They become your friends and you quickly bond with them. The film was directed by Herbert Ross who is known for directing "Steel Magnolias." This film is just as powerful, if not more so.

My less than perfect rating is due to the lack of extras on the DVD. How about interviews with the director and the cast? Trailers? Music video of the Indigo Girls (they had cameos in this film)? It is very unfortunate that no effort was made to make this a DVD worthwhile getting in lieu of VHS.

In spite of the DVD's shortcomings, the film itself is fantastic and I recommend it highly. Domestic violence, mature themes and language make this not suitable for kids.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST SEE !!!, March 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Boys on the Side [VHS] (VHS Tape)

LADIES..This is definetly one of those you should add to your collection. All 3 of the characters portray a wonderful story of love and friendship and the bounds of both. I saw this movie a year ago..LOVED IT..and have loaned it out to friends..who end up buying a copy for themselves...( great present for your lady!!!)

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A guilty pleasure for me, always end up watching this, January 10, 2008

By 

K. Corn "reviewer" (midwest, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Boys on the Side (DVD)

I think this film qualifies primarily as a "chick flick", at least according to every man who has ever watched this with me. Maybe there are some of you guys out there reading this who'll disagree. Feel free to chime in, preferably in the comments section.

This is one of my favorite films but it is the kind of film that is a guilty pleasure. I can't seem to avoid watching it when I catch it on television but I am always left wondering WHY I find it so addictive.

Is it because of Mary Louise Parker, an actress some can't stand but who I find to be both quirky and charming, with her performances in Fried Green Tomatoes, Angels in America and this film (Boys on the Side)? Looking as frail as she often does, with a face that isn't classically beautiful, she is a walking poster for someone needing help although she is spunky and stubborn enough to not seem totally pathetic?

But I don't think that is the whole reason I'm drawn to this film. Perhaps it is it the wild series of events, however improbable, that get me to both laugh, mostly at Drew Barrymore who can wring the comedy out of every moment, however sad.

There are moments in this film that also make me teary (won't say why, no spoilers here). Drew Barrymore is just so irreverent when it comes to her very disorganized, chaotic life and her romantic issues. Not surprisingly, she doesn't just skirt the law, she practically raises her shirt (as she did on David Letterman) and displays her assets to the world.

Whoopie Goldberg is in fine form, too, generally unflappable and adding some great heart to this film, the main nurturer and caretaker of the group. Anyway, this movie always hooks me, like some fish destined for dinner.

P.S. On a totally unrelated note, I find the closing scene of Three Days of the Condor, with Max Von Sydow, to be just as addictive. "It will happen like this..." he says, almost as though he were reciting poetry and them speaks so softly of a terrible day to come, in the most soothing and practical tones imaginable. He has to be among the most intriguing killers in movie history.