THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 11, 1995 TAG: 9502100076
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
``BOYS ON THE SIDE'' is a kind of soap opera on the move. It's ``Search for Tomorrow'' as filtered through ``Thelma and Louise'' and ``Terms of Endearment.''
Whoopi Goldberg, doing her usual - but still endearing - cynical-but-lovable act, is a flop New York City lounge singer who decides to take a try at California. She answers a classified ad that offers a ride out West. Her fellow passenger is Robin, a neat and prissy type whom Whoopi promptly describes as ``the whitest woman on the face of this planet.''
On the way West, Whoopi stops to pick up her friend Holly in Pittsburgh. It seems Holly is unlucky with men - many men. At the moment, she's being beaten up by her drug-dealing boyfriend. After she diverts him by hitting him with a baseball bat, the three women take his money and hit the road. Before long, they learn that Holly is wanted for murder - or at least manslaughter.
The road ends in Tucson, Ariz., but not before many side trips.
One of the three is dying of AIDS, another is pregnant and the third is a lesbian. As if this wasn't enough for any three movies, there are also men to muddy things up. James Remar is a bartender interested in Robin. Matthew McConaughey is a dumb-but-hunkish local cop in love with Holly. The role might do as much for him as ``Thelma and Louise'' did for Brad Pitt.
The surprise of the film is Drew Barrymore, who scores as the impish and sexually aggressive Holly. Barrymore has the kind of consistent image that could build to real stardom.
Mary-Louise Parker has the somewhat thankless role of the pale and correct Robin, who learns to loosen up. But will we ever stop confusing her with Mary Stuart Masterson? It will take more than this role.
Whoopi seems a bit too old for her girlfriends but, still, she's young in quips. The film initially seems to be daring by declaring her character's lesbianism but then shies away from the subject by refusing to allow the woman to have any sex life at all.
Director Herbert Ross is an old hand at movie emotions; he directed ``Steel Magnolias'' and ``The Turning Point.'' Here, he pushes all the right tear duct buttons, right on cue.
``Boys on the Side'' is highly predictable but nonetheless entertaining - on a slick and glossy commercial level. MEMO: Computer users can write their own review, and read the best of Mal
Vincent's reviews, on the Movie Page of the Pilot Online. See page A2
for details. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Warner Bros. photo
by CNB