Boys on the Side

Boys on the Side

A motion picture that celebrates the art of survival, the gift of laughter and the miracle of friendship.

R 1995 · 115 min · ★ 6.4 · Comedy, Drama

After breaking up with her girlfriend, a nightclub singer, Jane, answers a personal ad from Robin, a real estate agent with AIDS, seeking a cross-country travel partner. On their journey from New York City to Los Angeles, the two stop by Pittsburgh to pick up Jane's friend Holly, who is trying to escape an abusive relationship. With three distinct personalities, the women must overcome their differences to help one another.

Directed by Herbert Ross · Written by Don Roos

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Rent or Buy

Cast

Whoopi Goldberg Jane Deluca
Mary-Louise Parker Robin
Drew Barrymore Holly Pulchik-Lincoln
Matthew McConaughey Abe Lincoln
James Remar Alex
Billy Wirth Nick
Anita Gillette Elaine
Dennis Boutsikaris Massarelli
Estelle Parsons Louise
Amy Aquino Anna
Stan Egi Henry
Stephen Gevedon Johnny Figgis/Jane's Band

Trailers & Videos

Make it a double feature

3h 52m together

Boys on the Side

Steel Magnolias

Both from Herbert Ross.

More from Herbert RossSee all →

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? · 1966

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

A history professor and his wife entertain a young couple who are new to the university's faculty. As the drinks flow, secrets come to light, and the middle-aged couple unload onto their guests the full force of the bitterness, dysfunction, and animosity that defines their marriage.

Play It Again, Sam

Play It Again, Sam · 1972

Play It Again, Sam

MovieComedyRomance

A neurotic film critic obsessed with the movie Casablanca attempts to get over his wife leaving him by dating again with the help of a married couple and his illusory idol, Humphrey Bogart.

Steel Magnolias

Steel Magnolias · 1989

Steel Magnolias

MovieDramaComedy

A young beautician, newly arrived in a small Louisiana town, finds work at the local salon, where a small group of women share a close bond of friendship and welcome her into the fold.

Funny Girl

Funny Girl · 1968

MovieComedyDrama

The life of famed 1930s comedienne Fanny Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of New York, to the height of her career with the Ziegfeld Follies, as well as her marriage to the rakish gambler Nick Arnstein.

The Goodbye Girl

The Goodbye Girl · 1977

The Goodbye Girl

MovieComedyDrama

After being dumped by her live-in boyfriend, an unemployed dancer and her 10-year-old daughter are reluctantly forced to live with a struggling off-Broadway actor.

The Last of Sheila

The Last of Sheila · 1973

The Last of Sheila

MovieCrimeDrama

A year after Sheila is killed in a hit-and-run, her multimillionaire husband invites a group of friends to spend a week on his yacht playing a scavenger hunt-style mystery game—but the game turns out to be all too real and all too deadly.

The Sunshine Boys

The Sunshine Boys · 1975

The Sunshine Boys

Lewis and Clark, aka The Sunshine Boys, were famous comedians during the vaudeville era, but off-stage they couldn't stand each other and haven't spoken in over 20 years of retirement. Willy Clark's nephew is the producer of a TV variety show that wants to feature a reunion of this classic duo. It is up to him to try to get the Sunshine Boys back together again.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Goodbye, Mr. Chips · 1969

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

MovieDramaMusic

Academy Award-honoree Peter O'Toole stars in this musical classic about a prim English schoolmaster who learns to show his compassion through the help of an outgoing showgirl. O'Toole, who received his fourth Oscar-nomination for this performance, is joined by '60s pop star Petula Clark and fellow Oscar-nominee Michael Redgrave.

Footloose

Footloose · 1984

MovieDramaRomance

When teenager Ren and his family move from big-city Chicago to a small town in the West, he's in for a real case of culture shock after discovering he's living in a place where music and dancing are illegal.

The Turning Point

The Turning Point · 1977

The Turning Point

MovieDramaRomance

As young dancers, they were best friends and fierce rivals. Deedee left the stage for marriage and motherhood, while Emma would become an international ballet icon. But when Deedee's teenage daughter is invited to join Emma's dance company and begins an affair with a young Russian star, the two women are forced to confront the choices they've made, the resentments they've hidden and the emotional truths they must face at the turning point.

The Secret of My Success

The Secret of My Success · 1987

The Secret of My Success

Brantley Foster, a well-educated kid from Kansas, has always dreamed of making it big in New York City, but once there, he learns that jobs - and girls - are hard to get. When he visits his uncle, Howard Prescott, who runs a multi-million-dollar company, he is given a job in the mail room.

Soapdish

Soapdish · 1991

Celeste Talbert is the star of the long-running soap opera "The Sun Also Sets." With the show's ratings down, Celeste's ruthlessly ambitious co-star, Montana Moorehead, and the show's arrogant producer, David Seton Barnes, plot to aggravate her into leaving the show by bringing back her old flame, Jeffrey Anderson, and hiring her beautiful young niece, Lori Craven.

True Colors

True Colors · 1991

Two law school friends find themselves at odds when one becomes a Justice Department lawyer and the other goes into politics.

The Owl and the Pussycat

The Owl and the Pussycat · 1970

The Owl and the Pussycat

MovieComedyRomance

Meek, owlish Felix and strident, catty Doris live in the same apartment building. His incessant typing bothers her; her gentlemen callers bother him. Felix informs the landlord of her activities, so Doris moves in on Felix. When they both get thrown out, they move in with Barney... until they drive him out! That's when Felix and Doris finally decide to put theory into practice. But do opposites attract?

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution · 1976

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution

MovieMysteryThriller

Concerned about his friend's cocaine use, Dr. Watson tricks Sherlock Holmes into travelling to Vienna, where Holmes enters the care of Sigmund Freud. Freud attempts to solve the mysteries of Holmes' subconscious, while Holmes devotes himself to solving a mystery involving the kidnapping of Lola Deveraux.

Pennies from Heaven

Pennies from Heaven · 1981

Pennies from Heaven

MovieDramaMusic

During the Great Depression, a sheet music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent schoolteacher.

More Like This

Walk on Water

Walk on Water · 2004

Eyal, an Israeli Mossad agent, is given the mission to track down and kill the very old Alfred Himmelman, an ex-Nazi officer, who might still be alive. Pretending to be a tourist guide, he befriends his grandson Axel, in Israel to visit his sister Pia. The two men set out on a tour of the country, during which Axel challenges Eyal's values.

All About My Mother

All About My Mother · 1999

All About My Mother

MovieComedyDrama

Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.

Italian for Beginners

Italian for Beginners · 2000

Italian for Beginners

MovieComedyDrama

Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.

Desert Hearts

Desert Hearts · 1985

MovieDramaRomance

While waiting for her divorce papers, a repressed literature professor finds herself unexpectedly attracted by a carefree, spirited young woman named Cay.

The Science of Sleep

The Science of Sleep · 2006

The Science of Sleep

MovieComedyDrama

A man entranced by his dreams and imagination is lovestruck with a French woman and feels he can show her his world.

Head-On

Head-On · 2004

MovieDramaRomance

With the intention to break free from the strict familial restrictions, a suicidal young woman sets up a marriage of convenience with a forty-year-old addict, an act that will lead to an outburst of envious love.

Rain Man

Rain Man · 1988

When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has a savant older brother named Raymond and that his father's $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father's money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers' cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives.

The Edukators

The Edukators · 2004

MovieDramaComedy

Three activists cobble together a kidnapping plot after they encounter a businessman in his home.

Lisbon Story

Lisbon Story · 1994

MovieDramaMusic

Wim Wenders' homage to Lisbon and films. A sound engineer obtains a mysterious postcard from a friend who at the moment is filming a film in Lisbon. He sets out across Europe to find him and help him.

French Kiss

French Kiss · 1995

MovieComedyRomance

After her fiancee admits to infidelity while on a business trip in France, a woman attempts to get her lover back and marry him by traveling to Paris despite her crippling fear of flying. On the way she unwittingly smuggles something of value that has a charming crook chasing her across France as she chases after her future husband.

Casablanca

Casablanca · 1943

MovieDramaRomance

In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

Talk to Her

Talk to Her · 2002

MovieDramaRomance

Two men share an odd friendship while they care for two women who are both in deep comas.

Paradise Now

Paradise Now · 2005

MovieCrimeThriller

Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter