A typical, straight-forward coming-of-age story focusing on a group of boys attempting to fulfill their fantasies of coming face-to-face with death by going on a two-day trip to search for the body of a boy from their town who has been missing. While the plot itself meanders around what it actually wants to do before it finally settles down in the last third. Padding out the script through flashbacks, stories told by the characters and cross-cutting with a parallel group of teenage boys.
Indeed, the strongest aspects of the film are the young actors and the characterization of each one of them. The four main boys have charming chemistry, each one embodying a different facet of the typical American young boy circa 1959. What is so remarkable about these characters is how the two groups of boys seem to represent the entire spectrum from boyhood to young manhood. Both gangs use adult language, play with adult toys and attempt to paint themselves in a much older light than they actually are. Reiner's use of cross-cutting allows us to compare and contrast how the two groups interact and view themselves. As an audience, it is also fun to see how certain famous faces got their start in the business. Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Kiefer Sutherland, John Cusack and of course the immortalized River Phoenix, whose portrayal of the conflicted, parental Chris only began to reveal the marvelous talent he possessed.
Indeed, the strongest aspects of the film are the young actors and the characterization of each one of them. The four main boys have charming chemistry, each one embodying a different facet of the typical American young boy circa 1959. What is so remarkable about these characters is how the two groups of boys seem to represent the entire spectrum from boyhood to young manhood. Both gangs use adult language, play with adult toys and attempt to paint themselves in a much older light than they actually are. Reiner's use of cross-cutting allows us to compare and contrast how the two groups interact and view themselves. As an audience, it is also fun to see how certain famous faces got their start in the business. Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Kiefer Sutherland, John Cusack and of course the immortalized River Phoenix, whose portrayal of the conflicted, parental Chris only began to reveal the marvelous talent he possessed.