Now and Then

A 1995 film about four girls growing up in Shelby, Indiana. The bulk of the story takes place in a flashback to when the girls were 12 and is told from a single point of view.

Essentially a Gender-flipped version of the 1986 classic Stand by Me. Definitely not to be confused with Now and Then Here and There.

The film includes the main characters both as 12-year-olds and as adults. Casting different actors.

• Samantha Albertson. In youth played by Gaby Hoffmann, in adulthood by Demi Moore.
• Chrissy De Witt. In youth played by the late Ashleigh Aston Moore, in adulthood by Rita Wilson.
• Roberta Martin. In youth played by Christina Ricci, in adulthood by Rosie ODonnell
• Tina "Teeny" Tercell. In youth played by Thora Birch, in adulthood by Melanie Griffith.

Written by I. Marlene King, who later developed another, very different story about four female friends.

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This film contains examples of:

• Adults Are Useless: Played with; the girls' parents aren't monsters, but they're not exactly model parents.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Do not fake your death in front of Chrissy. She's got a hell of a right hook.
• Babies Make Everything Better: Not for the mother herself, but for Samantha, who shows heartfelt emotion and even sheds tears at the birth of Chrissy's daughter.
• Book Ends: The story begins and ends with a game of "Red Rover".
• Coming of Age Story
• Deadpan Snarker: Roberta and Samantha had shades of this.
• Disappeared Dad: Samantha's father walks out on the family. This is especially significant because of the time period ("At the time, no one had ever gotten a divorce, and the last thing I wanted was to be different.")
• Dramedy
• Flash Back
• Four-Girl Ensemble: Chrissy is the sweet naïve one, Teeny the fashionista, Roberta the tomboy and Samantha is the omniscient narrator.
• Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen: The girls' revenge ploy on the bullying Wormer boys.
• Growing Up Sucks
• Hand or Object Underwear: The Wormers as the girls ride off with their clothes.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Scott Wormer.
• Miss Conception: Played straight with Chrissy's mother. Cleverly subverted in this exchange of dialogue:

Teeny: Have you ever been french kissed? Chrissy: Are you kidding? I don't want to get pregnant. Roberta: You can't get pregnant from kissing. Chrissy: I know that, beetle brain. But, it's common knowledge, if you tongue kiss a boy, he automatically thinks you'll do the deed with him. It's the male curse.

• Missing Mom: Roberta's mother died when she was 4.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Crazy Pete
• Naive Everygirl: Chrissy has shades of this.
• No Periods, Period: The film doesn't shy away from puberty and sexual topics, but never goes into menstruation.
• Parent with New Paramour: Samantha's mother. Samantha is understandably Not Pleased.
• Screaming Birth: Chrissy, near the end of the film.
• Suppressed Mammaries: Roberta is shown duct-taping her boobs in the opening moments of the flashback. She stops doing this near the end after she and one of the neighborhood bullies develop a mutual crush on each other and kiss.
• The Talk: Chrissy's mother and her overprotective ways lead Chrissy to believe for years that sex is like gardening. ("Planting the seed, watering the flower")
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Chrissy and Roberta.