On May 23 and 26, the joys of youth, friendship, and cherry-favored Pez will be revived on the big screen when Fathom Events and Rave Cinemas Davenport 53rd + IMAX present 35th-anniversary screenings of Stand by Me, director Rob Reiner's Oscar-nominated Stephen King adaptation that Rolling Stone called “timeless” and “a staple of youthful nostalgia for its deft straddling of the line between childhood and adulthood.”

While there are certainly more noxious performance traits than an obvious, incessant need to be loved, Billy Crystal expends so much energy strong-arming us for adoration and sympathy in this sentimental dramedy that I occasionally found it hard to even look at him. At least Tiffany Haddish is on hand to occasionally make the guy look good – and by “good,” I really mean “less insufferable.”

It turns out that the preview goosing us with the promise of Incredibles-esque fun isn't at all necessary, because TMvtM proves so clever, so exciting, and so consistently riotous that it already feels like a computer-animated comedy classic. It's literally been years since I've laughed so hard at a movie, and I didn't even need a crowd of equally delighted cineplex patrons to keep me roaring – though I sure wouldn't have minded one.

Oh, Oscars. You just keep finding new and creative ways to screw things up, don't you?