I have heard so many people refer to this film as a female version of "Stand by Me." Yes, I see similarities between the two films, mainly along the lines of friendship, growing up, family issues, the dead, and drifting apart with age. But I must say like "Now and Then" better. Some parts are cheesy, but it has a great message and is timeless.
Four childhood friends: Samantha, Roberta, Tina, and Chrissy make a pact one summer to be there for one another when needed. Twenty five years later, they all reunite in their hometown for the birth of Chrissy's baby. As 12-year-olds in the summer of 1970, they dealt with issues such as divorce, the war in Vietnam, ambition for stardom and wealth, local bullies, and a murder mystery. They had each other when their families were absent or indifferent to them. They promised to be there for each other through the good and the bad, no matter what happened in life. They fulfill their promise, but how have they changed? Will they remain close through it all?
While the adult actors: Demi Moore, Rosie O'Donnell, Melanie Griffith, and Rita Wilson provide great opening and closure to the film, it is the young actors who carry its weight. Gaby Hoffmann, Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, and Ashleigh Aston Moore, respectively, play their roles with genuine believability. They have their limitations, but who doesn't? We are led to believe that somehow, they will succeed. An elderly man tells it best to one of them: Things will happen to you in your life that you can't control, but don't shut out the world around you. Life is not always fair, and we all have to grow up. But the film is a great reminder that in a cynical day and age, our friends are not lost!
Four childhood friends: Samantha, Roberta, Tina, and Chrissy make a pact one summer to be there for one another when needed. Twenty five years later, they all reunite in their hometown for the birth of Chrissy's baby. As 12-year-olds in the summer of 1970, they dealt with issues such as divorce, the war in Vietnam, ambition for stardom and wealth, local bullies, and a murder mystery. They had each other when their families were absent or indifferent to them. They promised to be there for each other through the good and the bad, no matter what happened in life. They fulfill their promise, but how have they changed? Will they remain close through it all?
While the adult actors: Demi Moore, Rosie O'Donnell, Melanie Griffith, and Rita Wilson provide great opening and closure to the film, it is the young actors who carry its weight. Gaby Hoffmann, Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, and Ashleigh Aston Moore, respectively, play their roles with genuine believability. They have their limitations, but who doesn't? We are led to believe that somehow, they will succeed. An elderly man tells it best to one of them: Things will happen to you in your life that you can't control, but don't shut out the world around you. Life is not always fair, and we all have to grow up. But the film is a great reminder that in a cynical day and age, our friends are not lost!
Tell Your Friends