annew101 OK -- i had to hide from my parents to watch this when I was 12 -- and I think it's why I have what my friend calls "RSS" Rock Star Syndrome!! ha! I'm 40, and still love these long haired musicians - geez, what's wrong with me? Actually, NOTHING. This was what I wish our girls these days could hope for.... I still do.... But seriously, these were simpler times, no internet, all that... I would love to go to the mall and see a fabulous guy like that. Always wished it could happen. What's funny is, I'm a librarian, and people will pay literally a fortune for the sequels to "Sooner or Later". Like $50!!! Embarrassingly enough, I probably would too. Well... what a great movie and book. It will always take me back to that time - seriously, felt like a 13 year old again. Yay!!!

karoslane Saw this movie on re-run just once, when I was about 13, in 1980. It completely matched my teenaged fantasies of sweet, gentle, interesting — and let's face it — hot — "older" guys. Just ordered it from CD Universe about a month ago, and have given it about four whirls in the two weeks since. As somebody mentioned — I'm haunted by it. As somebody else mentioned — I think it's part of a midlife crisis as well! Being 39 and realizing how much has changed since those simpler '70s times when girls of 13 actually did take buses and go to malls together and had a lot more freedom away from the confines of modern suburbia makes me sad for my daughter — who is nearly 13 herself. Thirteen back then was in many ways a lot more grown up.The film is definitely '70s but not in a super-dated cheesy way, in fact the outfits Denise Miller as Jessie wears could be current now! You know what they say, everything that goes around... although the short-short jogging shorts worn by Rex with the to-the-knees sweat socks probably won't make a comeback. The subject matter is handled in a very sensitive way and the characters are treated with a lot of respect. It's not the most chatty movie going — I often wished for more to be said between Jessie and Michael that would cement why he was also attracted to her. But the acting is solid, the movie is sweet and atmospheric, and the fringe characters give great performances. Mary Beth Manning as Jessie's friend Caroline is a total hoot — I think we all had friends like her. Maia Danziger as the relentless flirt with Michael gives a wiggy, stoned-out performance that just makes you laugh — because we also all knew girls that acted like that.Denise Miller knocked her performance out of the ballpark with a very down-to-earth quality likely credited to her uknown status and being new to the industry. And I think not a little of the credit for the film's theatre-grade quality comes from the very capable, brilliant hands of the story's authors, Carole and the late Bruce Hart, who also wrote for Sesame Street. They really cared about the message of the movie, which was not an overt in-your-face thing, while at the same time understanding how eager many girls are to grow up at that age.One thing that made me love the film then as much as now is not taking the cliché, easy, tied-with-a-bow but sort of let-down ending. In fact it's probably the end that has caused so many women to return to viewing the movie in their later years.Re-watching Sooner or Later has me absolutely sick with nostalgia for those simpler times, and has triggered a ridiculous and sudden obsession with catching up with Rex Smith — whom while I enjoyed his albums Sooner or Later and Forever when I was young, I never plastered his posters on my walls as I did some of my other faves. In the past week, I've put his music on my iPod, read fan sites, found interviews (and marveled in just how brilliant he really is — the man has a fascinating way of thinking), watched clips on YouTube — what am I, 13? I guess that's the biggest appeal of this movie. Remembering what it was like to be 13 and the whole world was ahead of you.

vontina69 When I saw the movie in 1979, before they gave television shows or movies parental ratings, I am thinking now that this movie is actually pretty risk taking for its time. Nonetheless, it is about a 13 year old who pretends she is 16 to gain the attentions of a 17 year old high school student who aspires to be a singer Rex Smith, who was a minor teen heart throb at the time is fine. Denise Miller who played essentially minor parts both in Fish and Archies'place later in her career is excellent as a conflicted 13 year old who does not know whether she should play with dolls or boys. Judd Hirsh(Taxi) and Barbara Feldon make use of the screen time by providing Miller with advice and tactfully helping the adolescent to make the difficult transition from her youth into a young teenager.

talka I saw this movie in 1979 (I was 20 at the time, and I actually thought that I might be a bit beyond this particular movie; ha! I was soon captivated by this sweet and tender movie, reliving the agony and ecstasy of first love) and it made an impression that has haunted my heart strings ever since. For the last 25 years I have kept an eye out for a rerun, but have never been lucky enough to catch one. I stumbled on the DVD two weeks ago and was absolutely thrilled-so thrilled, in fact, that I got on the internet to see if this film affected anyone else as strongly as it did me, or if I am having a midlife crisis; thank goodness, there are others!! So here I am, once again intoxicated by the spell of this sweet movie as I meet Prince Charming, get lost in a white lie in the name of love, and struggle with the consequences. The honesty, innocence, and integrity of the characters is the key to the poignancy of this romance. A truly timeless coming of age movie that will leave you breathless. Somehow, the knowledge that there are others out there who share my feelings about this movie makes me feel good....