Corey Feldman is most persuasive when he makes a group of friends less comfortable. His irritable Teddy in Stand by Me gives that friendship credibility; the later recycling of familiar personas is less rewarding.
Fi1m perspective
Corey Feldman's Teddy Duchamp makes the talk between the boys in Stand by Me (1986) a little less comfortable. His irritability matters: these friends do not sound as though they have agreed to be charming for our benefit. Rob Reiner's film occasionally nudges the emotion too firmly, but Feldman gives the group someone who can make companionship awkward. He makes Teddy's place among these boys believable, even when the boy is being difficult.
That performance sits within the run of supporting roles that brought him through in the mid-1980s: Gremlins (1984), The Goonies (1985) and The Lost Boys (1987). He was often cast as an energetic or hot-tempered youngster, a useful presence in ensemble comedies and horrors. The Lost Boys paired him with Corey Haim, but Reiner's direction in Stand by Me gives us the clearest reason to value Feldman's work. Reiner had noticed hurt and anger in his audition, and the casting makes sense on screen.
Jerry O'Connell's Vern Tessio helps explain why Teddy works so well: his earnestness gives Feldman's irritability someone quite different to sit beside. The four young leads make the friendship untidy, and Reiner allows that untidiness to survive the film's more obvious emotional nudges. We laughed at the proposal to live on cherry-flavoured Pez, because the ridiculous answer is delivered with such familiar conviction. That chatter gives the boys concerns of their own, rather than making every exchange explain what growing up means. Feldman belongs in that company; treating him simply as the angry one would miss how much the others benefit from his rougher presence.
His career slowed in the 1990s; his later work has included music and reality television. The manufactured dynamics of The Two Coreys (2007–08) relied on familiar personas from two decades earlier. We would not look to that programme for much evidence of what makes Feldman effective alongside other actors. Start with Stand by Me, where the friendship has room for someone who is not always easy to like.
Biography
Corey Scott Feldman is an American actor and musician. He began his career as a child performer in the late 1970s, appearing in television series and commercials before transitioning to film.
He is known for his roles in 1980s films including Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) as Tommy Jarvis, Gremlins (1984) as Pete Fountaine, The Goonies (1985) as Mouth, Stand by Me (1986) as Teddy Duchamp, and The Lost Boys (1987) as Edgar Frog. He frequently appeared alongside Corey Haim, and the pair were referred to as "The Two Coreys".
Feldman has spoken publicly about sexual abuse of children in the entertainment industry.
