Upon learning of the death of a childhood friend, a story writer recalls an adventure that they shared with two other boys when they were twelve years old in this nostalgic coming-of-age drama starring Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix as the two young friends. The chemistry between Wheaton and Phoenix feels genuine throughout and highlights of their adventure include a near miss with a speeding train, an engrossing campfire story about a pie eating contest and a leech incident. Their goal of seeing a dead body that they have heard about is pretty interesting too. This is one of those movies where the journey is more important than the destination though and it is a bit of an uneven ride with little sense of tension or urgency in the air as the boys talk about random topics such as Disney characters and food while casually making their way to where they believe the body is located. A major part of the film also involves the boys standing up their older brothers and other bigger kids, none of which is half as interesting as the way they confide in one another about their deepest fears and resentments during the course of their adventure. The final fifteen minutes or so of the film are quite intense though and one gets the sense of the boys being truly affected by their experiences, but one's mileage here will likely depend upon one's affection for nostalgia.
Review of Stand by Me
