Review of Riding in Cars with Boys

I recently saw the last 20 minutes or so of this movie and thought it looked very moving and hoped to watch the whole thing to see how the plot and characters developed. Last night I did, but they didn't. We end up with potentially touching moments where the now-grown boy expresses his feelings toward his mother and father and about his girlfriend but spend most of the movie meandering around his infancy. Where his later feelings came from are never developed, like his relationship with the little girl born to Mom's friend. All of a sudden, Mom has apparently always wanted to be a writer. The characters know it but it's news to the viewer. The scenes are all done wonderfully and believably, the acting is excellent in all cases, but the whole thing is never tied together. Delightfully moving moments in the beginning and the end leave the viewer wondering what happened in between. I expected to cry but ultimately couldn't figure out why.