My Girl (1991)

A young girl, on the threshold of her teen years, finds her life turning upside down, when she is accompanied by an unlikely friend.

Director:

Howard Zieff

Writer:

Laurice Elehwany

Stars:

Anna Chlumsky, Macaulay Culkin, Dan Aykroyd

2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dan Aykroyd	...	Harry Sultenfuss
Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Shelly DeVoto
Macaulay Culkin	...	Thomas J. Sennett
Anna Chlumsky	...	Vada Sultenfuss
Richard Masur	...	Phil Sultenfuss
Griffin Dunne	...	Mr. Bixler
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
Jody Wilson	...	Mrs. Hunsaker

Storyline

1972. Vada Sultenfuss (played by Anna Chlumsky) is an intelligent, bubbly, hypochondriacal 11-year old girl. Her father, Harry (Dan Aykroyd), is a mortician and a widower. Her best friend is Thomas J Sennett (Macaulay Culkin). Then her father hires a new receptionist, Shelly (Jamie Lee Curtis), and life will never be the same again.

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Plot Keywords:

best friend | 11 year old | receptionist | first crush | widower | 

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Taglines:

A funny and moving family film!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Family | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 November 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

My Girl

Filming Locations:

113 Magnolia Ave, Sanford, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$17,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$59,847,242

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Imagine Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis also worked together in Trading Places (1983).

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Goofs

Vada's teddy bear disappears after her father places it on her pillow.

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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

Referenced in Los Cinéfilos: ¿Te gusta Wes Anderson? (2013)

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Soundtracks

Witch Doctor
Written by Ross Bagdasarian

User Reviews

Touching insight into the trials of growing up

'My Girl' is a rare treat in that it is a moving family drama that never descends into being overly-sentimental or cloying in the messages it's trying to deliver. It is a very bittersweet look at the joys and tears a girl faces when she stands on the cusp between childhood and adolescence.

Set over the summer of 1972, the film centres on Vada Sultenfuss, a motherless eleven-year-old tom-boy who has enough problems coping with impending adulthood on top of having to contend with her oblivious mortician father Harry and her senile grandmother Gramoo. And if things were not bad enough, Harry hires an assistant in the form of the funky Shelly leaving Vada feeling her place in her father's life is threatens by this new woman. Thankfully she is not alone as seeing her through her troubles is her loyal best friend Thomas J.

While Dan Anckroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis, as Harry and Shelley respectively, were great in their roles as two adults who both care for Vada and who have a growing attraction to each other, it was the child actors who stole the show. Anna Chlumsky, in this her film debut, delivered a first class performance as Vada, depicting the all the little nuances of the character from the confusion a tom-boy feels as she tentatively embraces her girly side in deference to her first crush to the desolation of bereavement to the loneliness she feels due to her father's thoughtless neglect. She was excellent in showing Vada's childish innocence and rare maturity that comes when a child has dealt with the harsh side to life.

Macaulay Culkin was another surprise as he portrayed the guileless Thomas J. It was a pleasant change to see him in a role other than the obnoxious kid he usually depicted in previous films such as 'Home Alone' and 'Uncle Buck', and he rose to the occasion with flare, perfectly displaying the bumbling but sensitive and caring nature of his character. His performance here proves that, had he chosen to, he could have been one of the rare few who succeed in the seamless transition from being a child actor to a teen/young adult actor.

'My Girl' is so involving for a wide age group because it not only conjures up nostalgic memories of summers gone by in adults who occasionally long for the carefree bliss of childhood but it engages younger viewers into considering the lessons of loyalty, love, loss and growing up. It definitely strikes a cord in those who are eleven years old themselves (I was eleven when I first saw this film and felt as if I could identify with Vada on many things). Most girls of eleven will probably empathise with Vada's views that nothing happens to boys! Highly recommended.