Beverly Donofrio (Barrymore) is the youngster growing up in all-American Wallingford in the 1960s.

She's a regular at the soda fountain with girlfriend Fay (Brittany Murphy), enjoys parties and generally goofs around.

But she also harbours a desire to become a writer.

She's on track to graduate from school, head off to college and carve a name for herself as a novelist, when she falls pregnant.

Her police officer father (Woods) railroads her into getting married, and she is soon living the life of the housewife with well-meaning waster Ray (Zahn).

Passively resenting her son for thwarting her literary career, Beverly strives to get her ambition back on the rails while coping with the job of raising a toddler.

After years of drudgery, it is Ray's confession that he is a heroin addict that spurs her to kick him out and apply herself to becoming a writer.

Director Penny Marshall perfectly captures small-town America and the performances are almost uniformly good.

Woods is excellent as her stern but loving dad, while Murphy endears as Beverly's slightly kooky but loyal best pal.

The problem lies with Barrymore's performance - she's not an immediately likeable actress, so it's difficult to develop empathy for her.

Fair enough, Beverly is a pretty poor mother with a selfish streak, but Barrymore's performance polarises this emotion and it appears it's the only one she's got.

That's not to say it's not an amiable picture...it flows along freely and captures the hippy spirit of the age satisfyingly.

However, with a running time pushing two hours and the last seqment of her life rushed, it ends up a chick flick and not a lot more.

Tim Evans