Now and Then is one of those ‘90s movies not enough people talk about anymore. Considered at the time the Stand By Me of female friendship movies, the 1995 film showed us the summer four teenage girls spent in 1970 and how they made a pact to be with each other, even in adulthood during the ’90s.
I’ve always had my eye on the friendship pairing between Roberta and Chrissy for being total opposites, though they work well together. But, after re-watching the comedy-drama, I’m still upset that the two didn’t end up together romantically as adults.
The Original Script Intended For Roberta To Be Gay
her character’s lesbian identity was cut out. She got real about a producer (a rep later told People she meant to say that the studio, New Line Cinema, made the final decision) who reportedly saw the movie and wanted to take out “every little, tiny thing that I had done to build the character into an accurate gay woman.” That fear the studio allegedly had is a real shame. With Now and Then being a coming-of-age story, it would have been radical and invigorating to see a young queer character in the ‘70s, and later as an adult in the ’90s, navigate her sexuality at a time when coming out wasn’t common.
great LGBTQ+ characters made an impact on television, like in Will & Grace, or when Ellen DeGeneres came out. Even though O’Donnell didn’t explicitly say that the script had Roberta and Chrissy as endgame, it still would have been a great opportunity for Roberta to have explored her sexuality if she started to have feelings for her best friend.
female friendship movie, Roberta and Chrissy were shown to be closer to each other than to Samantha and Teeny. When it came to being there for Chrissy, Roberta was the first to run to her rescue, specifically protecting her from The Wormers’ jello balloons or trying to get bird droppings out of her hair while everyone else laughed.
However, the one scene that really made me ship Roberta and Chrissy was when Roberta pretended to drown in the pond, and Chrissy was the only one willing to do mouth-to-mouth. While Samantha and Teeny saw Roberta’s faking as a moment of defeat for not being quick to perform CPR on their friend, Chrissy saw it as a moment of anger and hurt that she pretended to be dead. After Roberta apologized to Chrissy, the awkward looks between the two suggested that maybe something more could have happened if their friends hadn’t interrupted them.
planned film-adapted TV series panned out and was made today, LGBTQ+ inclusivity would have been seen through the pairing of the two pals, with hints that Roberta and Chrissy had the potential to develop more romantically. To further see where I’m coming from, you can find the friendship dramedy available to rent or purchase on digital streaming platforms.