Review of Stand by Me (1986) by Michael M — 11 Aug 2015

This is one of those movies that thinks it understands the way kids act and talk, but with hit and miss success, and when it's miss it's pretty painful to witness. I also really hated this overly sentimental nostalgia. Everyone misses moments of their childhood, they miss their friends from childhood, but to say these were the best moments of your life and the best friends of your life is a stretch, and to say that this is true of everyone is downright offensive.

So these aspects of the movie really sort of pissed me off. However, there is still a lot I really like. It's a coming of age road movie basically, and I'm a sucker for that type of stuff. I don't think it deserves as much praise as it gets, and I think the directing is pretty pedestrian overall, but I do understand the simple charm it holds for a lot of people. Even though parts of it sort of pissed me off, it really ended up winning me over.