Joining the ranks of female bonding films this season is "Now and Then", a picture about four women and their lives both in the here and now - as well as their teenage years in the 1970s. Except for the good performances by Christina Ricci and Gaby Hoffman, the film is a listless retread of dozens of other coming-of-age films.

The film places Demi Moore, Rosie O'Donnell, Melanie Griffith, and Rita Wilson as grown women coming together for the birth of one of the group's first child. They play minor book-end roles being on screen for no more than 20 minutes. The rest of the picture is devoted to their younger teenage duplicates, (some of which don't seem to duplicate their older versions very well).

The only interesting parts of the film come from some of the dark moments - only at this time do we see something new. Ricci does an admirable job in the picture protraying a distraught child. The rest of the cast, Hoffman aside, fair only half as well.

A few off-beat and colorful supporting players make cameos - adding a bit of humor and pep to the piece. But "Now and Then" is nothing new.

Copyright (c) 1995 Tony Zidek