The Graduate: Rosanna Arquette gets let down in Baby, It's You

SteynonLine ^ | September 12, 2026 | Rick McGinnis

[Twotone]

Students returned to school this week, leaving nearly every non-student to experience some sort of sympathetic response in kind. For many of us, it took years to stop considering the real start of the year the first week in September, and having children of your own only nudged us back into that old rut again for a further two decades.

And then there are those people who remember high school and college fondly – even as, in that dread phrase, the "best years of their lives." Years ago the Huffington Post ran a story where the author recalled meeting a man in a diner off a Maryland highway while taking refuge from a snowstorm. The man, in his early '40s, was as friendly as most Americans usually are in those situations, but the writer was struck by how much and how fondly the man talked about high school.

"He had been an All-State linebacker on his championship team, and ran track as well," the author recalls. "He had been popular and had lots of rich and entertaining stories about his escapades with his buddies and various girls, most of whom had left the area. He got married right after graduating, took some business courses at the community college, and now he owned this diner and was fairly successful. Still, the best years of his life were behind him."

The writer was, he recalls "saddened by his life story", but uses it to explore what he calls a "memory phenomenon" where "our power to encode lasting memories is strongest at this stage of life, peaking before a steady decline into middle age and beyond." But, they add, there is new research to challenge the idea of biology hard wiring us for nostalgia.

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TOPICS: History; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: movies; rosannaarquette

[Rummyfan]

Marking.

[x]

Huh?

[ronniesgal]

tried to read but don’t get the point.

[Inyo-Mono]

I’ve met people for whom their high school years were the best of their lives, kind of sad if you ask me. For me, my entire life after high school have been the best years of my life, hiking, exploring, work, marriage, kids, family, etc. I’m 76 and still enjoying it.

[John Milner]

Sounds like a film I’d enjoy.

[higgmeister]

Can you give a Reader's Digest condensed version?   This text makes no sense.

[systemjim]

Although I don’t like Bruce Springsteen’s politics, I do like one of his songs that speaks directly to this subject. It is called “Glory Days.”

It might be worth a listen.

[Chickensoup]

I have been a fan of John Sayles films for a long time. This is a good review. He is a film writer who would make money the film tightly made low budget films.

Along with BABY IT’S YOU. He made THE RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS SEVEN, THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET,
THE SECRET OF ROEN INISH. AND OTHERS

https://findthatmovie.com/celebs/jo/john-sayles.html

MATAWAN IS THE ONLY ONE I DIDN’T ENJOY

[BarbM]

2 points
1. the poor guy believes his best times were behind him.
2. Our minds may be wired to make us remember nostalgic from our high school days.

a. my best days are still to come.
b. I was so stoned in HS that I don’t have nostalgia.

[alternatives?]

I am in the same boat.

I would add that for most, they had no choice of where they went to high school. It was like going to the DMV everyday but only with people your age. I grew up in the country, and really never had any freedom until I got a car and a job while going to a local collage. Real freedom occurred after I graduated, got a good job, and moved away.

[minnesota_bound]

I scored four touchdowns in a single game while playing for the Polk High School Panthers in the city championship game versus Andrew Johnson High School, including the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds....
Then after high school I worked selling shoes.

[dfwgator]

Lie when your wife is waking.
Lie when your belly’s aching.
Lie when you know she’s faking.
Lie, sell shoes and lie.

[Twotone]

tried to read but don’t get the point.

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There’s no particular point. It’s a movie review.