"The little girl who dreamed to have what I have has happened. And I feel that it's not something that happened overnight, but a (result of a) constant chipping away and (of) facing my insecurities, holding steadfast to things I believed in and wanted even when I didn't have faith in myself." - Demi Moore co-producer and psuedo-star of "Now and Then"

The marketing strategists who are selling this film across America want us to believe the 3 major adult female actresses who appear in it are actually the film's stars. In reality, they are not. Demi Moore (who also co-produces), Melanie Griffith, Rosie O'Donnell (who play the adults along with Rita Wilson) actually only spend about 10 minutes opening and closing the film. Those Madison Ave. shysters would have done better to promote this film for what it is, a female coming-of-age story. Have we ever had a female film in this genre done as an ensemble piece (ala "Stand by Me," etc) before? I don't think so. And this one is a fairly good one. Too bad anyone who sees it for the adult sequences will be sorely disappointed in the amount of time the "stars" act in the film.

The young actresses here are fairly well-known anyway. Christina Ricci is widely recognized and loved as Wednesday from those "Addams Family" films. Thora Birch and Gabby Hoffman have been in a few well-known movies too. Only Ashleigh Aston Moore, who naturally plays the also unknown Wilson's character - as a youth, doesn't seem familiar. See, that's the hook of this film. Wilson is (Ashleigh Aston) Moore all grown up. Dittos with O'Donnell for Ricci, (the elder) Moore for Hoffman, and Griffith for Birch. Hence the title, "Now and Then." We see the same characters as adults and adolescents.

After a small intro where the film's flashback isn't even really set-up, the body of the film, with the adolescent girls begin. Trapped in a story that is only fairly good, the young actresses still make the film watchable. Hoffman is perfect as a young girl going through an uncomfortable transition. She is the heart of the film. When she hurts, we feel it. More importantly, she actually looks like Demi as a youth. Sometimes it's uncanny. And when Hoffman bonds more deeply with Birch, it is magical. Hoffman makes this unbelievable coupling more realistic than it should be. Birch, playing a naive yet cosmopolitan actress in training, handles this snooty aspect of her character as best she can. But Birch is a little too mature to grow up to be the airhead Griffith. We wonder where her brain went as an adult. Thankfully, it's not all that important to remember who became who for Birch would have to de-evolve to becomes her adult counterpart. Birch doesn't get any real story line here but what she is given makes us hunger to see her in a lead role in a better film. Meanwhile, Ricci spends a lot of time playing the pubescent libido of the group. Growing breasts and becoming attracted to boys, Ricci is the most desirable on-screen adolescent since Dancia McKeller played Winnie Cooper on TV's "Wonder Years." Supposedly sharing her first kiss with a boy in the film, Ricci looks fantastic. Attractive and lovely, one finds it hard to believe she supposedly grew up to be Rosie O'Donnell. Regardless of her physical beauty, Ricci has to deal with a hackneyed plot line about her mother's death. To her credit, she tries as best she can. Watching her adolescent beauty flowering here, unfortunately, has to be enough to sustain us through the film. Seeing her look as alluring here, one wonders how we ever could have considered here unusual enough to play Wednesday. The younger Moore, finally, simply plays the silly fat girl plopped into this piece for comic relief. Sure, she's funny, but her character never grows. Even Wilson as her adult counterpart still seems like a pudgy dolt.

The story, scripted by I. Marlene King and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter (the TV vets feature film debut) doesn't move any new mountains. This is pretty standard stuff we get here. Set in the early 70's, the film mines divorce, changing sexual mores, and Viet Nam for material as easily as it borrows from children's mystery/ horror fiction and cinematic feel-good heart-warmers. There's a silly plot about a long dead youth that doesn't seem to make much since anyway. We can figure it out well before the girls do, even if it basically becomes a non-event of a climax. King wants to use this as a catalyst for a moral, not a fright fest and the results are rather drab..

But there are some interesting moments, usually because they play on the genre of "coming-of-age" flicks while showing us females this time. A segment where the girls steal some clothes from a neighborhood group of boys/thugs who are skinny-dipping is cute only because it plays with the age-old situation. (The film bravely exposes the boy's posteriors for several seconds). The talk the girls have prior to this, about "penises" and "hard-ons" is also fairly new ground for girls in films. It's also the scene where the younger Moore has her most humorous lines. Also unique is a veer off the main story for a brief interlude with a "hippie" Nam vet (Brendan Frasier in an uncredited cameo). Again, this moment is interesting because it is usually boys we see in scenes like this. And King almost ruins it by making one of the girls say upon their departure from the man, "Whatever you're looking for, I hope you find it." Yuck.

King has trouble when she attempts any kind of off-beat idea like this. Her intentions may be well and good but her finished product never pans out completely. It's only when she decides to remain completely complacent and avoids trying new things that the film works. She's better at borrowing than creating. One only has to look for the film's attempt at sub-sub-text for proof of this. Note the years on the tombstone of the dead boy in the mystery part of the plot. He supposedly lived from 1933-1945. Now, if I'm correct, wasn't that the exact years of WWII. Is this King's sorry attempt at making a point here or this just a coincidence. She has the plot touch upon the changing world of America in the early 70's, so one can only assume that this is her supposed little touch of brilliance. Or, of course, it could just be me. Still, it's obvious touches of coming-of-age stories from the past that makes the film, with female characters, a bit exceptional. The talk about dead and divorced parents, the sidetracked moment with the hippie, the skinny-dipping scene, the fist-fight sequence, the confrontational situation with the other neighborhood gang, the first kiss scenario; These are all things we see in stories about boys. This film is basically "Stand by Me" with girls but we accept it and admire it somewhat because it's done almost adequately and, more importantly, it needs to be done. Young girls deserve to have films made about them.

"Now and Then" also follows the precedent set by "Forrest Gump" of cramming as much pop music into the soundtrack as possible. Tunes by several artists from the early 70's, from The Jackson 5 to Badfinger to Free, get pushed up in the mix here. While it does add some spice to the film while accenting the time frame, for the most part it eventually gets frustrating. Oft times, we'd rather hear the rest of the song that has just begun to play than to hear the dialogue that comes after it. When it comes to the tunes used here, it seem like someone let one of the 12 year old girls in the film control the mix. Like a teen with a radio, the powers-that-be here change the station constantly, just when the song is getting good. Arrgghhhh.

Coming-of-age films are a genre well recognized by film scholars. And, surely, there have been a few for females in the past. But "Now and Then" is unique because it is uniquely 90's and uniquely American. It has major stars and it steals from popular films in the genre from the past 10 years. Still, it's an okay film. And with the 70's tunes to propel it along, grown-up girls can like it just as much as adolescent ones. Just don't go to see it for the grown-up girls in the cast. They come and go as fast as... well, as fast as the summer does - when you're 12 years old.

Note:

Also with Janine Garofallo, Hank Azaria, Cloris Leachman and Bonnie Hunt in small roles. The older Wormer boy, who kisses Ricci is played by Devon Sawa. Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw are shown in a clip from "Love Story" and thanked in the end credits.

Director of Photography is Ueli Steiger. Score by Cliff Eidelman. Susanna Hoffs (most notable from her days with The Bangles) sings the title song over the end credits. It's the only new pop song in the film.

Review written in 1995

Report Card Script: C Acting: A- Cinematography\Lighting: C+ Special Effects\Make Up: B+ Music: A Final Grade: B-

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