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 Ashleigh Aston Moore, in adulthood by Rita Wilson.
• Roberta Martin. In youth played by Christina Ricci, in adulthood by Rosie O'Donnell
• 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.

Tropes used in Now and Then include:

• 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.
• 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
• 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.
• Parent with New Paramour: Samantha's mother. Samantha is understandably Not Pleased.
• Screaming Birth: Chrissy, near the end of the film.
• 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.