My Girl (1991)

Vada Sultenfuss is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. She is also in love with her English teacher, and joins a poetry class over the summer just... See full summary »

Director:

Howard Zieff

Writer:

Laurice Elehwany

Stars:

Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Macaulay Culkin

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dan Aykroyd	...	Harry Sultenfuss
Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Shelly DeVoto
Macaulay Culkin	...	Thomas J. Sennett
Anna Chlumsky	...	Vada Margaret Sultenfuss
Richard Masur	...	Phil Sultenfuss
Griffin Dunne	...	Mr. Jake Bixler
Ray Buktenica	...	Danny DeVoto
Ann Nelson	...	Gramoo Sultenfuss
Peter Michael Goetz	...	Dr. Welty
Jane Hallaren	...	Nurse Randall
Anthony R. Jones	...	Arthur
Tom Villard	...	Justin
Lara Steinick	...	Ronda
Kristian Truelsen	...	Charles
David Caprita	...	Ray

Storyline

Vada Sultenfuss is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. She is also in love with her English teacher, and joins a poetry class over the summer just to impress him. Thomas J., her best friend, is "allergic to everything", and sticks with Vada despite her hangups. When Vada's father hires Shelly, a makeup expert, in his funeral parlor, and begins to fall in love with her, Vada is outraged and does everything in her power to split them up.

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Plot Keywords:

funeral | summer | best friend | makeup | death | 

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Taglines:

When your Dad's an undertaker, your Mom's in heaven, and your Grandma's got a screw loose...it's good to have a friend who understands you. Even if he is a boy.

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Genres:

Drama | Family | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 November 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mi primer beso

Filming Locations:

Bartow, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,500,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$59,847,242 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Imagine Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Macaulay Culkin's first on-screen kiss.

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Goofs

Harry tells Shelly that he was a popular date in high school because he did "a killer frug." This can't be because the frug was a dance popular in the mid-1960s. The movie takes place in 1972, when Vada is 11. That means she was born in 1961. Her mother died two days after she was born. So Harry was not in high school when the frug was popular.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Vada Sultenfuss: I was born jaundiced. Once I sat on a toilet seat at a truck stop and caught hemorrhoids. And I've learned to live with this chicken bone that's been lodged in my throat for the past three years. So I knew Dad would be devastated when he learned of my latest affliction.
[to Harry]
Vada Sultenfuss: Dad, I don't want to upset you, but my left breast is developing at a significantly faster rate than my right. It can only mean one thing: cancer. I'm dying.
Harry: [making a sandwich] Okay, sweetie, hand me the ...

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Connections

Followed by My Girl 2 (1994)

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Soundtracks

"I'M JUST WILD ABOUT HARRY"
Written by Eubie Blake & Noble Sissle

User Reviews

Excellent Family Entertainment

God knows, good family entertainment is hard to come by. In my considered opinion, My Girl is an outstanding exception from this rule. I have not read the book the film is based on. I would not be surprised, if it turned out to be much more superior to the film version; I, for one, find it unfortunately too often a case. However, judged on its own merits, the movie scores as high a rating as 8 in my book--in terms of achieving its purpose: pleasing the whole spectrum of possible viewers. The story-line is nicely balanced, with just the right mixture of the human situation drama, realism, insight into child psychology and optimism. One might argue that in the film finale Veda is shown as having too quickly recovered from her supposedly terrible and tragic loss, but children are indeed this way, and the depth of her earlier suffering is sure evidence that this chapter of her life will be forever locked into her conscience. It is exactly the balance I want my daughter exposed to. The dialog is fine: mature enough to show Veda's precociousness without overdoing it and to give the parents some intellectual pleasure and simple enough, on the other hand, for children to follow without losing themselves in its complexities. I regard myself as a poor judge of acting, but having said that, I find the acting in My Girl totally satisfying. If I may venture a guess, I'd say that, e.g., Jack Nickelson at his best would be to a large extent lost on the younger audience and would not be missed by adults who expected just to have great time with their kids together. That my wife and I have had.