Gals Need Great Coming-of-Age Flick, Too

Women have no equivalent to Stand By Me to help them relive their lost tweener years, Hortense writes on Jezebel. The blogger admits to "a jealousy that creeps in whenever I watch Stand By Me. The relationships shared between the boys seem so real, so true.” The next-best thing for women, Now and Then, "is a sweet little film" that Hortense enjoys but calls "a stereotypical mess."

“The most frustrating aspect of the film is that the characters barely grow or change at all,” she writes. They grow apart as adults, but don't feel the "heartbreaking fondness" that Gordie feels looking back in Stand By Me. Maybe today's chick flicks can't portray real feelings, writes Hortense, because they "need to have some kind of marketing deal, some type of sexed-up pop-star princess tie in that gets the kids excited." (More teenager stories.)