5 Reasons Why I’m “best friends forever” with Now and Then

The message “Friends Forever” was printed on every poster and graffitied on every bathroom stall in the mid to late 90s. I had a purple shirt from Limited Too stamped with these words in bright silver glitter, which annoyingly got all over my mom’s new 1998 Volvo. My mom regretted this purchase, but I loved it more than anything and wore it until it shrunk to almost nothing. Other words of empowerment like “Girls Rule and Boys Drool” or “Girl Power” were everywhere, but I credit Now and Then for inspiring me to be a little badass feminist.

This nostalgic 90’s flick starred our queen Christina Ricci, the sassy Thora Birch, the very mature Gaby Hoffmann, and the memorable Ashleigh Aston Moore. 

“The summer of 1970 started off like any other summer…before Nintendo and MTV, we had to find other ways to entertain ourselves”. If you’re not familiar with this movie, I encourage you to spend $2.99 this weekend and watch it with a friend because even so many years later, it still holds up.

Here’s why:

1) Devon Sawa and Christina Ricci reunite again.

We all loved when Devon asked Christina if he could “keep her” in 1995’s Casper so seeing them reunite in Now and Then, where the awkward preteen vibes flowed like a 7 Eleven Icy machine, is nothing short of magic. The few scenes they share are full of the angst that we all had at that time in our lives. We would be caught off guard with questions like “How did my annoying neighbor get so hot all of a sudden?” or “Did she always have boobs?”. Roberta telling the eldest Wormy Wormer, “if you tell anyone about this, I’ll beat the shit out of you” will always warm my heart. She was the tough and cool reflection of a female sparkplug who I wanted to be and will always admire.

2) Teeny and Roberta learned to love an outcast.

At the beginning of the movie, the group of four girls perform an elementary séance in their small-town cemetery. They get spooked and think a child ghost has come back and asked them to figure out what happened to him and his family. They later realize that the father of the boy is Pete, an outcast from their town who later saves Samantha from drowning in a sewer. This surprising act of heroism and kindness created a place in my heart for all the Pete’s of the world. He also leaves us with an admirable lesson, “Things will happen in your life that you can’t stop but that’s not a reason to shut out the world.” Damn Pete, you laid the truth on thick.

3) Roberta leaning on her friends while grieving her mother. 

I’m very lucky to say that I didn’t lose anyone when I was a kid and wrapping your head around death is hard at any age. Christina Ricci does an amazing job sharing the pain of Roberta’s loss on screen and for me, this is the scene that graduated her from child to serious actor. Her faking her death and insulting Crissy, the easy target of the group, is a sign of Roberta hurting which ultimately leads to an explosion of anger and grief in the dusty old attic full of memories. This scene taught me that if you don’t have friends to help you stay grounded then you might just lose yourself and spin out of control.

4) Sam punches a kid for disrespecting Roberta’s mother. 

When the girls decide to join in an all-boys softball game, a misogynist little shit decides to taunt Roberta before she goes up to bat. He tells her that “girls can’t play softball”. I love this scene because it’s a huge fuck you to movies like The Sandlot where it silently teaches young boys to exclude girls from participating in sports. 

Roberta retaliates and wails him right across the face, knocking him off the fence he was sitting on. After she beats the shit out of the little psycho for a few minutes, he makes an unforgivable remark about Roberta’s dead mother. Samantha, the calmest and most mature of the group, gives no fucks and runs ahead of Roberta, tackling the little bitch to the ground. Alexa, play “Best Friend’ by Saweetie. Hands down, the best scene of the entire film.

5) Gathering for the birth of Crissy’s baby. 

When a close childhood friend welcomes a little one, a lot changes and suddenly you’re hit with the realization that “this baddie just gave birth to another little baddie”. Women are incredible, aren’t we? When they arrive at Chrissy’s house, they all arrive with very different vibes. Roberta, played by Rosie O’Donnell, is a charming and funny doctor. Teeny, played by Melanie Griffith (Dakota Johnson’s mom for all of you youngsters), arrives in a limo letting the audience know that she achieved her dreams of being famous. Crissy, played by Rita Wilson, is very pregnant and still thinks “breast” is a swear word. Samantha, played by Demi Moore, arrives smoking like a chimney and gives off this very cool “I’m a successful writer in New York City” energy. But even though they’re all completely different from one another and have spent years apart, they still made time in their mid-thirties to reunite and pick up where they left off 25 years ago. It’s inspiring watching four women show up for each other and play truth or dare in the old, dusty tree house they bought in the summer of 1970. Proving that there is nothing more badass than female friendship and that it is indeed possible to be best friends forever.

Written by Honey Moore

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