Old Enough

This is a story of a friendship between an unlikely pair but kids don't care. One young girl comes from a well-bred upper class family and another girl is a street smart daughter of a New York apt. building super. They learn from one another about a different culture and the dialog is fantastic - extremely believable. I'm sorry the overall rating this movie received was so mediocre. The low scores were obviously given by persons out of touch with real life, especially from the perspective of a young girl.

I was also surprised to see the low rating of this great little film. I saw it as a teen in the mid 80's on cable and, like so many others, was unable to stop watching this story through to its end. Even though it now looks so dated, I mean, no dot coms, facebook or cell phones here, the meat of the story holds true now, as it did in '84. The acting is fine and the issues are realistic. Speaking for myself, as a young teen-aged girl growing up in New Orleans, I could totally relate to the emotions expressed by the two lead characters, both New Yorkers, because the feelings were universal. If you're a female, you'll probably get it (and let me just say, I don't usually enjoy 'chick-flicks'). Like someone else has already posted, I, too, look forward to my own daughter viewing this film. It's still one of my all-time faves & whenever I catch it on TV, I still have to watch it, all these years later. I'd say it has stood the test of time.

I just watched a 13-year-old taped-from-Bravo copy of this film, and let me tell you: it's a delight. Not only does it knowingly tap into the teenage experience of expanding cultural sensibilities, but it does so in a completely unpretentious and earnest way-- no John Hughes slapstick or over sentimentality here, just an honest portrayal of a pivotal friendship.

The two female leads are excellent young actresses, and the soundtrack is really quite unique (think a more primitive version of the "Virgin Suicides" soundtrack by Air).

Plus, you can see what Alyssa Milano was doing before she rocketed to "Who's the Boss?" fame.

Check it out if you can.

This movie had all the elements it would take to become one of the defining movies of a generation. It had the right characters, the right setting, and the right themes. Classism, racism, religion, coming of age (on multiple fronts), deep family dynamics, urban violence, and adultery were all touched on and even a minor plot turn could have explored any number of them. However . . .

it seems that the film makers deliberately missed out on this opportunity. The viewer can almost feel the hand wringing and pearl clutching amongst the powers that were as even the mildest of controversial themes was approached. The "bad girl" wasn't all that bad, and the "good girl" was naive almost to the point of imbecility. This is no fault of the performers - the acting was very good (with the possible exception of the brother (played by Neill Barry), who was a little wooden - hey, ya can't win 'em all). Even for the '80s it was just too mild.

I can see how the milquetoast WASP crowd might find this movie enjoyable, but for anyone with pulse it's a pretty dull exploration of a potentially deep movie. I think it could be remade today with a little more depth and a little more internal exploration of a great bunch of characters and people would rave.

I could not remember the name of this movie. In 1984 I was 11 years old and I watched this movie every time it was on. This movie moved me. When I was 9 years old I was a lot like the innocent girl. A new girl moved across the street from me. She was from a city. I was from a very small town. She had me wanting to be like her. I even helped her steal a mini-skirt outfit for her school pictures. She was the one who told me about the "period". She used curse words, she wore makeup, and her mother used to drink vodka all day long. After she got into some trouble, her mother said I was a bad influence and we were no longer allowed to hang around anymore. She moved away 2 years later and I never saw her again. When this movie started showing on cable when I was 11 I was drawn in forever. This movie is wonderful and so real. This movie was able to show exactly what I had lived and that I was not the only one. Nobody knew then or knows now that these things had happened to me. Im glad I finally found the name and now I will look for its next showing on bravo or IFC. I will record it and have it for my daughter.