I remember having a pretty low regard for a venture like this when it was first released. James "Not Jim" Belushi, a hammy kid actress, and a cheesy title in a John Hughes formula. You couldn't have paid me to see it 15 years ago. But, I got caught up watching it while wasting away a Sunday afternoon, and it hits me on a couple of levels. The fairy tale (part Pretty Woman, part reverse Pretty Woman), the very vulnerable, Elizabeth_Perkins_in_Miracle_On_42nd_Street -like performance by Kelly Lynch, the escapism. Over all, it gently pulls some very nice strings. It's pretty hard not to fall into the story, develop a crush on Kelly Lynch, identify with James Belushi, dislike the stiff bad guy boyfriend, and laugh at the Curley Sue lines. Has all the ups and downs, with a happy ending, and the kind of message you want to hear. Go ahead, waste your time on this movie, it's worth it.
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stephenhow26 June 2005
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Cal-373 September 1999Give this movie a break! Its worth at least a "7"! That little girl is a good actor and she's cute, too. Jim Belushi is a comic genius. You can't help but feel good at the end! I wish there were more wholesome shows like this, that you can enjoy with your kids!
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Writer/Director John Hughes covered all bases (as usual) with this bitter-sweet "Sunday Afternoon" family movie. "Curly Sue" is a sweet, precocious orphan, cared for from infancy by "Bill". The pair live off their wits as they travel the great US of A. Fate matches them with a "very pretty" yuppie lawyer, and the rest is predictable.
Kids will love this film, as they can relate to the heroine, played by 9 year old Alisan Poter (who went on to be the "you go girl!" of Pepsi commercials). The character is supposed to be about 6 or 7, as she is urged to think about going to school. Some of her vocabulary suggests that she is every day of 9 or older.
Similar to "Home Alone", there is plenty of slap-stick and little fists punching big fat chins. Again, this is "formula" film making, aimed at a young audience. Entertaining and heartwarming. Don't look for any surprises, but be prepared to shed a tear or two. -
inkblot1119 September 2006Curly Sue is a 6 year old with an abundance of hair and a life as a drifter. She and her father, Bill (Jim Belushi), try to survive on the streets by being small time con artists. In Chicago, Bill decides to jump in front of a car in a pricey parking garage while Curly will scream about lawsuits and traction to the intended victim. It happens to be a very upscale lawyer named Grey (Kelly Lynch) who is appropriately appalled at what she has done. Not only do the scammers make some cash, they get to spend the night at Grey's plush apartment. Even then, Grey feels she owes them more so the three of them hang together for a spell. Grey only knows the lucrative law business and nothing about life. Who better to teach her than Bill and Curly, those savvy experts on life's realities? But, all good things must come to an end and there is no life for a legal expert and a couple of con men. Or is there? This is a sweet and funny movie about the unexpected. Curly is certainly as entertaining as Shirley Temple but much edgier, of course. Belushi gives a rare touching performance as the down on his luck con and Lynch is luminous as the snooty but soft touch lawyer. John Hughes, as writer and director, shows us his magic touch once again, as the script is lively and unpredictable. Just watch Curly and Bill take Grey out for a night, with no money, and see the humorous results. Do you long for happy endings, long promised and finally delivered, with a few uncertain moments in between? This is your made-to-order movie.
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sanniti29 September 2011I'm going to give it a 10 just because the IMDb rating for this film is so surprisingly low. It deserves a higher rating. Whenever I'm feeling in a funk, I put this on and all my cares and worries just disappear! I've read the reviews and still don't understand why people don't like it...because a yuppie lawyer wouldn't fall in love with a bum, you say?! I am a career woman and still I was with a dumpster diver for 5 years. Love is blind, people. Plus, it's just a story and a good cute feel-good story. Curly Sue is adorable. How can you NOT fall in love with her?!! So, rent it, buy it and put it on when you're feeling blue. We could use more movies like this one for good old-fashion escape. Highly recommended.
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skullislandsurferdotcom1 May 2011Curly Sue will steal your heart... till you don't have one anymore. And then, heartless, you'll seethe in anger watching one of the worst examples of class envy ever made.
For in Chicago, Illinois, there are only two kinds of people: the rich... Kelly Lynch as a bad lawyer turned good, and John Getz as a bad lawyer turned even worse; and the poor... our heroes Jim Belushi, a con-man vagabond with a ten year old daughter, Curly Sue, in toe: helping him scheme people out of money.
It's when you see a horrible movie by a lightweight director like John Hughes that you realize his brilliance otherwise.
Using the close-up punch in the face gag (think UNCLE BUCK socking the clown) more than a dozen times, and with music so pulsating with contrived sympathy, this Hughes mess (his last directed project) isn't only unfunny, but has no plot whatsoever.
But perhaps there's a theme: bums have hearts of gold, and anyone with money can be redeemed: if only they realize the theme of this movie.
Blech! -
cronen18 February 2005If you can make the leap of faith required to believe that a successful attorney would actually fall in love with a homeless man, then you will enjoy this heart warming film.
Jim Belushi does a fair job, either you like his style or you don't. The little girl is cute enough. But, Kelly Lynch was remarkably convincing. I found myself drawn into her performance in a way that was quite surprising considering a film of this nature.
This movie is billed as a comedy and it was funny enough. Besides making me laugh, it also got me choked up at times. A good film for the whole family. -
crispy_comments19 July 2010Well, I've finally seen Curly Sue, the notorious flop widely considered The Worst John Hughes movie. I was curious, but kind of dreading it. I'm not really a fan of Cute Moppet movies and find most child actors irritating.
The good news is, I found Alisan Porter to be a much more natural child actress than, for instance, Shirley Temple or the girl who played Annie. Alisan was cute without being obnoxiously cutesy. Most of the time she comes across as a Real Kid instead of one who's been coached too much and never had a normal childhood (which often results in creepy and/or annoying mannerisms - most child actors just can't "act natural".) Except for her singing, which has that somewhat cheesy Broadway style and sounds overly trained. (The way her singing was shoe-horned into the script, was pretty contrived.) Still, it's a pity her career didn't take off after this performance... although she might be better off *not* having become a big star, when you consider the messed-up lives most child stars lead.
As for the movie as a whole... I can understand why it flopped. Sentimental family films are not very popular anymore. I know it's been said by others, but Curly Sue really is an old-fashioned movie that feels like it should be set during the Great Depression (like Annie and all those Shirley Temple movies were). The fact that it's set in modern times makes it harder for today's audience to accept. Many movies from the 1930s were a mixture of the gritty side of life with down-on-their-luck characters (Homeless drifters! Plucky orphans!) in poverty-type situations, and fairytale wish-fulfillment. Audiences needed that at the time when so many were down-on-their-luck themselves. (Having a rich and poor person fall in love despite class differences, was another common element in films of the Depression, however unlikely this may seem now.) When Curly Sue was released, this sort of escapist fantasy didn't seem relevant to most viewers, I guess.
I enjoy many movies from the 1930s/40s and I love Frank Capra... as did John Hughes, I hear. Capra's idealism is not considered "cool" today either, unfortunately. I don't mean to say that Curly Sue is in the same league as Capra's classics. Jim Belushi is no Jimmy Stewart. (Or Bill Murray, although he may be trying to do an impression of him since I kept picturing Bill in the role - interesting to read on IMDb that Murray was offered the part first!) Belushi's character doesn't ultimately accomplish great things, or even attempt to fight the system like most Frank Capra heroes. His lifestyle as a con artist could be seen as rebellion against society, but the writing lacks depth. We don't understand why he'd choose to avoid gainful employment, and even resort to injuring himself in order to con a free meal out of someone. Not when he displays skills, such as piano-playing. It's not very plausible, especially since the movie does *not* take place during the Great Depression when unemployment was not a choice, but an inescapable fact.
In it's depiction of women, this movie also reminds me of many post-WWII movies Hollywood made in an attempt to send women back to the home so they wouldn't "take jobs away from" the men who had returned after the war. Kelly Lynch's character is a hard-hearted career-woman who instantly melts upon meeting this child, and ends up giving up her job in favour of motherhood and marriage. She is not so much depicted as conflicted over the moral problems inherent in being a lawyer, specifically, as she is portrayed as unfulfilled and "unnatural" until she becomes more "womanly". There is even a subplot where this lawyer counsels a client who is half-heartedly seeking a divorce, and switches gears from advising her to bleed her cheating husband dry, to supporting the woman's inexplicable desire to stay with the man who doesn't love her and in fact, wants to get rid of her. This reminded me of movies from the 1940s, such as The Women, with their less-than-empowered messages. At least the Hays Code can excuse those films, but in this day and age...not so much.
I can't argue with people who dislike Curly Sue for being unrealistic, or sentimental/sappy/corny. Personally I prefer uplifting movies with happy endings and I think more films should be made that the whole family can watch together. However, I don't love Curly Sue - maybe because I've seen it's familiar elements done in many other movies, and done better. Much of the criticism I've seen, I agree with. The pacing *is* slow. The plot *is* predictable. The slapstick is too silly and feels out of place. But it's not as bad as I'd expected, based on it's reputation. The acting is decent. Nice music. You get to see Viveka Davis, the charming actress from Student Exchange! (Wish her part was larger.) There are far worse films...many of which have a higher rating on IMDb. Still, I can't rate it higher than a 4, knocking off some points for the flaws mentioned above, and because it's merely average compared to others of it's type... including other John Hughes films, which I've found more heartwarming and humorous than Curly Sue. (But it's not The Worst John Hughes Movie either - it's better than Weird Science!) Don't let my rating discourage you, if you're also curious, as a John Hughes fan, or looking for feel-good family films. -
With all thats going on in the world sometimes we need an escape. Curly Sue is just that. Not a complicated plot or deep meaning; however it is not devoid of substance. There is more than furious action or heart pounding dramas. There are the charming little shows you can watch with your kids and have enough substance to enjoy with your date. Try it you may like it more than you think. The little girl is really smart and cute. The "Dad" and the girl go thru some slapstick routines. When a jealous boyfriend steps in, trouble brews for Curly and the life shes known may be torn asunder. Fred Thompson and Kelly Lynch play good roles as the upper crust and Alison Porter and James Belushi are a interesting fable like duo portraying street wise homeless drifters. Their worlds collide and comedy ensues.
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elo-equipamentos23 October 2017Although the movie has emotional appealing, Curly Stooge Sue striking you totally, she is those girls who stolen your heart, Jim Belushi is no longer a star, but in that time he really was, Kelly Lynch is kindly and has a true and convincing performance, John Hughes put in several scenes a small gags that could be unnoticed, so pay attention for every single scene., anyway this picture is amusing for everyone who has a heart!!!
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Fist watch: 1993 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7 -
semi-buff29 July 2005It's hard to believe people actually LIKE this dreck! I do think kids can enjoy it, but to me it's the kind of kid film parents can't bear to sit through. Predictable plot, boring Belushi, and possibly the worst kid actor of all time. I will give the director some of the responsibility for the kid, but she was truly painful to watch. I feel embarrassed for her now, having people know it was her. When she sang the Star Spangled Banner I had to turn the sound off--then I came here and discovered they did that because she won Star Search. I've always felt Jim Belushi should be ashamed to trade on the name of his wonderful, sadly missed brother, and this crap shows why. Zero stars.
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easygoing845 September 2001Very heart warming and uplifting movie. Outstanding performance by Alisan Porter (Curly Sue). I saw this movie when it was first released and enjoyed it immensely. I just caught it again on the Mplex channel, and Curly Sue touched my heart again.
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EmptyLeo3 May 1999How can the viewer rating for this movie be just 5.4?! Just the lovely young Alisan Porter should automatically start you at 6 when you decide your rating. James Belushi is good in this too, his first good serious role, I hadn't liked him in anything but About Last Night until this. He was pretty good in Gang Related with Tupac also. Kelly Lynch, you gotta love her. Well, I do. I'm only wondering what happened to Miss Porter?
i gave Curly Sue a 7 -
prudhoeboy24 November 2022I watched this movie in desperation having run out of Thanksgiving fare. I was hoping it might somehow be better than received. Unfortunately it wasn't. Overall the movie was recognizable as John Hughes script and had a chance, but to be brutally honest, like Curly herself, she just wasn't cute enough for that role. This movie puts average on a pedestal and it doesn't work. The only way it could have worked is to have the child actor steal the show like Macaulay Culkin did in the Home Alone franchise. Unfortunately, Curly fit too well as a streetwise runaway type, modern day throwback to the Dickens era. Cheeky, disrespectful, yuck. Someone we don't want to identify with or admire, certainly not suburban America, thus the low ratings. Bottom line - curly is not endearing to the audience as a street child and was miscast in this role. In other words, she was cast literally, not creatively. The audience wants to be surprised. She would have fit better in a horror movie. This movie could have worked, though, too bad. It had a good Thanksgiving message but not a word about any holidays and the church was kept right out of it. Memo to the writers - if you're going to use a goodwill theme, lose secular. It doesn't work. The idea of taking in homeless people to live in your home that don't have serious issues like addiction or mental illness is also trivializing their condition. This movie cost over $25 million and received mostly negative reviews. It made a bit of money, most likely because it was a John Hughes film, the last before he died. Or maybe just too many people snuck into the theatre without buying tickets and soda.
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Pookyiscute12 February 2004John Hughes brings us another sad tale of a character, who's heart is bigger than her wallet, or her guardian's brain.
James Belushi plays a bum. A man who has been unemployed traveling from city to city for the past ten or so years. And did I mention he travels with a little girl? Curly Sue is her name, and along with scams and easy ways of getting free food, and some money the two play a game with one another. Kelly Lynch, plays a very successful sophisticated lawyer, who happens to be the bait, for such a ploy the two decide to pull. After running over Bill (Belushi) with her car, she takes the two out for dinner in order to apologize for her actions. Throughout several other meetings with the two unfortunates, she takes them in for the night which turns into several nights.
It's a heart-warming tale of three unlikely people who find joy and happiness with one another. However, be prepared, that as funny as most of Hughes' films are, this one tends to be much more dramatic than you might think. But a wonderful piece that will stay with you years after you see it.
I give this film a 7 out of 10 (10 being the highest). Although I enjoy it thoroughly, it's still not the best movie Hughes has ever made or written.
And that's my review. -
I had heard some not-so-charitable things about Curly Sue, and after also seeing the negative rating on IMDb, I was differing whether to see it. You see Curly Sue I have seen dismissed as cheesy, overly sentimental, predictable, slow and so forth. Curly Sue is not perfect by all means, but I actually did not see what was so awful about it.
I agree the story can be predictable, and the film can be slow at times. I also felt Curly Sue was slightly overlong, but that's probably just me.
However, I did not find it overly sentimental really. Sentimental it is, but overly so no. The film is very heartfelt and poignant, yet has a humorous and light-hearted tone to it. Curly Sue also is beautifully filmed, has a lovely soundtrack and the direction is solid enough. Even the acting wasn't too bad. Alison Porter is very endearing and cute in the title role, while Kelly Lynch is sexy and appealing and James Belushi is very watchable as the bum with a heart, and is also somewhat touching.
Overall, has its faults but is both funny and touching. I liked it, a lot. 7/10 Bethany Cox -
SnoopyStyle28 May 2016Bill Dancer (Jim Belushi) and Curly Sue are homeless drifters running little scams to get by day to day. He has been taking care of her since her mother left her as a baby. Grey Ellison (Kelly Lynch) is a driven divorce lawyer. Bill pretends to get run over by Grey and she gives them a meal. Her cold-hearted fiancée Walker McCormick stops her from doing more despite her falling for little Curly Sue. Later, she actually truly hits him with her car. The two stays at her apartment as the trio grows closer together.
Not everything is gold when it comes to John Hughes. Sometimes the formula is too formulaic. I'm good with the sugary sweet little girl. The slapstick is way too much. It's trying desperately to be Curly Sue's namesake. It's almost schizophrenic as it goes from the silliest slapstick to the most emotionally manipulative tear jerker. While I buy Grey's love for Curly, it's hard to buy the same for Grey and Bill. This needs more reality and less formula. It need less silliness and Bill should probably leave at the end. -
Ameliex11 June 2020Curly sue aka Alison Porter, had a brilliant acting in this movie. I don't know how old she was. Perhaps 9 years old or 10. Incredible that a child that age can act that way. She truly shined bright in this movie. I was amazed watching this movie, only because of Alison. This movie was truly a lovely movie. Every actor were perfect for the role that they were playing. This movie will fill your heart with love and make you laugh hard. In the beginning of this movie there were pictures or scenes of various 80s and 90s toys and stuff. I am a 80s child and those images brought back so much memory. I loved the opening of this movie. It was like going down memory lane seeing those first images in the beginning.
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EmDee-427-46934429 April 2019As I said Hollywood loves to make rich, successful, unmarried childless people look like they're all miserable, unscrupulous, and to "settle down" i.e. be happy.
Here we have a con artist who is somehow the good guy because he has a cute kid. He keeps stealing from people and then tells his daughter "we don't steal" when she went to steal from the woman. His limit is hot rich ladies who he will steal from by "falling in love" and mooching off them instead.
There's not really much that's cute about this movie beyond the appearance of the kid. She acts like a rude little brat and then smiles and we're supposed to think the whole package is cute.
Another example of Hollywood telling people you can't be rich, successful (your own definition of successful), childless and unmarried. You have to feel bad being alone, so you make kids with whoever you can find and make a market for their future movies (in the form of your own little consumers). -
Soledad-225 February 1999This movie made me very happy. It's impossible not to love the smart and sweet orphan girl who changes the heart of a selfish lawyer only interested in pursuing success in her career. This is a very optimistic movie and I sincerely believe that we need more films like Curly Sue. It touched my heart.
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kitenasuttles23 September 2022This movie is adorable and one of my all time favorites. I honestly can't believe that it's rated so low because it's so great. I wouldn't listen to the bad reviews and check it out for yourself. It has a cute little clean romance, a heartfelt relationship between a father and child, and a little girl who learns to be a child. I can't find another move like it so if anyone has any suggestions because the ones offered here are nothing like Curly sue. Also why do these reviews have to be so long, I just wanted to make sure that people gave this movie a chance because it's excellent and didn't get reviewed properly in my opinion.
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fntstcplnt10 January 2020Directed by John Hughes. Starring Jim Belushi, Kelly Lynch, Alisan Porter, John Getz, Fred Dalton Thompson, Viveka Davis, Gail Boggs, Cameron Thor, Barbara Tarbuck. (PG)
Cutesy, cornball, cloying, shamelessly sentimental and manipulative dreck. Belushi and Porter are "father"-daughter scam artists ("Paper Moon," it ain't) who get taken in by uptight, withdrawn lawyer Lynch, who (whaddaya know) grows fond of them. Clearly tried to do for Porter what the filmmaker previously did for Macaulay Culkin (Shirley Temple for the modern age?), but no such luck. Doesn't even have faith in its own sappiness, as it undermines saccharine sentiment with random episodes of violent slapstick (replete with cartoonish sound effects). When Belushi's character performance is the one that comes closest to resembling a grounded and plausible human being, that should be all the warning one needs to go back to the drawing board. Truly, rock bottom for writer/director/producer John Hughes (it's a wonder he didn't take his name off the thing); not surprisingly, he never directed another movie. Ralph Foody, the movie-within-a-movie gangster from the early "Home Alone" pictures, has a bit part; ditto for Steve Carell as a waiter (unclear whether or not he gets nauseated by food, though).
14/100 -
Good story. Good script. Good casting. Good acting. Good directing. Good art direction. Good photography. Good sound. Good editing. Good everything. Put it all together and you end up with good entertainment.
The shame of it is that there aren't nearly enough films of this caliber being made these days. We may count ourselves lucky that writers/directors like John Hughes are occasionally able to make their creative voices heard.
Whenever I notice that I'm watching a film for the third or fourth time and still find it thoroughly satisfying I have to conclude that something about that film is right. -
This 1991 release was written, directed, and produced by the late John Hughes, who would continue to write and produce for movies after this, but would never direct again. I knew this was one of his films, which was how I discovered it in the first place, so I decided to watch it, but wasn't expecting it to live up to most of his more popular works from the eighties. "Curly Sue" seems to be pretty obscure compared to many other Hughes films, and I noticed a mediocre rating here, so as much as I've been impressed with most of the other efforts I've seen from the filmmaker, it wouldn't have surprised me if I had found this particular one to be consistently boring throughout. It did look like that for a while, but eventually, that changed a bit.
Curly Sue is an orphaned young girl who has been taken care of by a homeless man named Bill Dancer since she was an infant. Together, these two survive by going around and scamming people in order to get food. They scam Grey Ellison, a rich lawyer, by making it look like she has just hit Bill with her car in a parking lot. They get a meal from her, but that wasn't as much as they were expecting. However, very shortly after this scam, Curly Sue and Bill meet Grey again, and this time, she accidentally ends up hitting Bill with her car for real! The lawyer then takes the two of them to her luxurious apartment, thinking they are biologically father and daughter, and they get to stay there for the night, even though her snobbish boyfriend, Walker McCormick, does not approve of this. Curly Sue and Bill find their lives changing as Grey lets them stay in her apartment, but are still headed for some complications.
This movie is a dramedy, which means it has both humour and serious moments. For the most part, the humour doesn't work so well. Some parts did amuse me, such as the "she was too pretty" segment, but I usually kept a straight face during the film. Some parts around the beginning may have put a puzzled look on my face, such as the part where Bill gets Curly Sue to bash him over the head and she sends him flying through the air! Pretty much everything near the beginning, whether it was supposed to be funny or serious, failed to impress me. However, I eventually started finding much of "Curly Sue" to be fairly gripping, thanks to the drama in the film, though the humour continues to fail, and there may be some tedious segments, especially the movie theatre one. I did not care for the overacting of John Getz as Walker McCormick, but most of the cast performances are at least reasonable. At first, it looked like I was really going to dislike the Grey Ellison character, played by Kelly Lynch, with the scenes showing her on the job, but I found that this character soon changes.
John Hughes certainly could have ended his directing career with a better film than this, but if you ask me, this one isn't as bad as its reputation may suggest. Yes, the humour is usually lacklustre, and the filmmaker was well known for the humour in his movies, plus people have also considered "Curly Sue" to be excessively sentimental and clichéd, and I can understand that, but personally, I still found it heartwarming enough to give it an above average rating. If you watch this result of Hughes' final stint as a director, which came eighteen years before his premature death caused by a heart attack, and expect it to be up there with "The Breakfast Club", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", "Planes, Trains & Automobiles", etc., you could very easily be disappointed. This is a different idea than any of those movies, and wasn't done as well, but while I think it's far from great (unlike some people), I guess it is at least slightly underrated. -
I'm not one of those people who think John Hughes could only do teen films in the mold of 'Breakfast Club' etc. There's a lot of good to be found in his other works ('Career Opportunities', 'Dutch') etc, but 'Curly Sue' (his last film as a writer/director) falls a bit short.
It has its moments, but didn't do much for me. Compared to 'Baby's Day Out' or 'Just Visiting' though it's a masterpiece...