NOW AND THEN, in my opinion, is a very hilarious and touching movie about the power of friendship. If you ask me, it makes you and your friends stop and evaluate your friendship. I know it certainly made me stop and evaluate my friendship with my really close friends. All in all, this was a very good movie. In conclusion, if you enjoy buddy movies, and you haven't seen this very hilarious and touching movie about the power of friendship, I highly recommend it! You're in for a real treat and lots of laughs, so go to the video store, rent it or buy it, kick back with a friend, and watch it. If you miss it, I guarantee you you'll regret it.

Samantha (Demi Moore) is called home to Shelby, Indianna for her childhood friend Chrissy (Rita Wilson)'s coming childbirth. She recalls her childhood in the summer of 1970 in the new subdivision Gaslight Addition. The four friends Roberta (Christina Ricci),Teeny (Thora Birch),Samantha (Gaby Hoffmann),and Chrissy (Ashleigh Aston Moore) try to earn enough money for a tree house. One night, they play séance at Dear Johnny's grave at the cemetery and lightning strikes. They go off to discover the story behind Dear Johnny while Wormer brothers continue to hound them.

There is a definite 'Stand By Me' feel to it. It's the female equivalent. The obvious question is if the adult version is compelling enough and do the two versions fit together. I can certainly do without the adult version. Rosie O'Donnell doesn't really fit as an adult Christina Ricci. It would have been much better to limit the adult storyline like 'Stand By Me'. Although, it's only about 20 minutes of screen time at the start and the end of the movie.

Enough reviewers here on IMDb have made a comparison of this film to "Stand By Me" that for me to mention it, it would be redundant. Nevertheless, the story did have a Stephen King vibe to it for a number of other reasons. It's a small town coming of age story told in flashback, with the character of Samantha (Demi Moore) narrating her experiences in the past and present with her closest childhood friends. The King novel "It", admittedly a horror story, possibly serves as a better comparison to "Now and Then" in as much as both have a cast of characters who have made a pact to reassemble as adults if any one of them needs help for a stressful situation. If that weren't enough, the storm drain scene had me dreading some demonic clown villain reaching out and grabbing Samantha to pull her under, until I realized that as the narrator, she would have to have survived that awful experience in order to tell the tale.

Though on the surface the picture is positioned as one for women and young girls, I think there's some value in applying a more global perspective to the idea of nurturing friendship and loyalty throughout one's lifetime with those we grew up with. The four teen girls in the picture stuck together through thick and thin, searching for the truth about their home town and it's past secrets in a way that helped them grow as individuals. Realizing that not everything can be perfect in one's life is an important lesson to learn, and having a support system to help one grow through those rough patches is a valuable memory one can look back on as the years roll by.

I liked the way the picture weaved the Crazy Pete/Dear Johnny subtext into the story, and how it helped Samantha come to grips with the father that abandoned her family. That dynamic further reinforced an idea offered by the returning Vietnam vet (Brendan Fraser),who's best advice to the girls had particular resonance in hindsight - "You can believe in yourself, if you're lucky."