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Mystic Pizza (1988)
This pleasant little young adult drama with slight rom-com aspirations is well-acted and irrevocably gentle in nature. When it touches upon delicate subjects, it does so the way your mother or grandmother would: tenderly and in the form of insinuations. The film's strength lies in the portrait of the tight-knit comradery and rivalry between the three friends played by Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts and Lili Taylor. They are close to fully drawn-out characters, at least they have real struggles and aspirations, and there's an undeniable appeal to their everyday existence and the somewhat prosaic manner director Donald Petrie communicates it. Julia Roberts shows promise in her first starring role. She looks older than her 20 years, which fits the part well. And although her relationship with rich boy Adam Storke ends predictably, there's a sweetness and authenticity to the way they first hook up. The late Conchata Ferrell (later of Two and a Half Men) is great fun as the owner of the pizza parlour the girls work in.
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