Helen Hunt’s character in the film Ride, (a movie she not only starred in, but also wrote and directed) is abrasive, crude yet dauntless and compassionate. The nuances found in this textured yet sympathetic performance shouldn’t surprise anyone after her bold performances in As Good as It Gets, The Sessions, Mad About You, and her many varied roles in film and TV.
In Ride, she created a bold and engaging character: Jackie, an acerbic, harried, dyed-in-the-wool New York editor and single mother whose life is overly intertwined with her son Angelo. We see her concern for him in our first glimpse of her, sitting wrapped in blankets outside his bedroom door while he sleeps. We see them finish each other’s sentences, arguing about his writing, and visit his dorm room for his upcoming semester at NYU. When Jackie laments her son going off to school, Angelo demonstrates just how far away he’ll be going—eighty something steps from the building where he grew up.
Before starting school, Angelo is getting ready to spend his summer on the beach in Southern California with his father, stepmother, and half sister. It’s an antidote for his New York malaise and his disillusionment with his hometown, with his stifling mother who wants to finish his short stories, and with the lack of real surfing spots in the vicinity of NYC.
After some time on the beach where Angelo takes to the West Coast like his name and rethinks his upcoming semester at NYU. When Jackie finds out he withdrew from school, she gets on the next plane to the West Coast and surreptitiously follows her son. Comedy ensues when the uptight but determined Helen attempts to absorb the beach culture while spying on her son and picking up the gauntlet when he says that she’ll never surf. Her walking in heels through the sand and her many misguided yet determined attempts at surfing are relatable and comical.
Over the course of the story unfolding, we learn that some amount of Jackie’s overprotective and controlling nature relates to the tragic loss of Angelo’s brother at a young age. Bringing the emotional charge of this event to light is part of the healing that takes place in this film.
Other aspects of the character’s healing relate to mother and son seeing themselves and each other’s passions and point of view from new perspectives. The moral: not all expectations and ideal notions turn out to be what you expect. The same can be said for this gem of a film.
Ride premiered in Hollywood at the Arclight, and Helen was surrounded by friends, supporters and crew who helped her produced this independent film. It opens in theaters and on demand May 1.
Karen Henry is an Associate Editor at LA YOGA who volunteers in a variety of capacities for nonprofit organizations and artists around Los Angeles. She practices yoga as a counterbalance to her daily impact sports and is a mother of four grown children who also practice yoga . Now, she’s working on teaching yoga and joy of life to the grandkids!