Vada is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. When Vada's father hires Shelly, a makeup expert, and begins to fall in love, Vada is outraged and does... Read allVada is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. When Vada's father hires Shelly, a makeup expert, and begins to fall in love, Vada is outraged and does everything in her power to split them up.Vada is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. When Vada's father hires Shelly, a makeup expert, and begins to fall in love, Vada is outraged and does everything in her power to split them up.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 5 nominations total
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- Writer
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Featured reviews
Vada is a little girl who basically surrounded by death in some aspects, her mother passed away and her father works in a funeral home. When a make up artist, Shelly, comes to work for her dad, Harry, Vada is a little threatened that her dad might be taken away from her. But she has another love, an English teacher who's class she starts taking just to impress him, but another little boy, Tommy, has a little crush on Vada, but as soon as she realizes what she has lost, maybe she should take a closer look at things.
My Girl is a sweet and charming film that could make anyone feel very good and just makes you want to hug someone afterwards, as cheesy as it may sound. Even though I didn't cry, it does have some sad little moments, Macaulay shined in this movie, you could just tell this kid was star bound, wish someone would give him a break, because he is slowly climbing to top again. But he and Jamie were the stars of the film and really made it worth a watch.
6/10
Anna Chlumsky and Macaulay Culkin couldn't be any more cuter. Anna gets to have some great funny one liners. It is possibly one of the best sweetest coming-of-age story. The romance between Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis is also lovely. I love the bumper car scene. There is probably way too many spoilers. I guess people were afraid to be shocked. The movie handles the death with class. Don't be scared off even for the kids. It's a great movie.
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.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJamie Lee Curtis instituted a swear can on set to prevent "trucker talk," as Dan Aykroyd called it. Aykroyd said in an interview: "It was $5 for this word and $10 for another word and by end of the movie the kids had about five grand in there."
- GoofsWhen Vada bounces her ball along the hall, it only makes the sound of a ball hitting a hard surface, despite landing on a thick woven wool rug at least half of the times she bounces it.
- Quotes
Vada: Weeping willow with your tears running down, why do you always weep and frown? Is it because he left you one day? is it because he could not stay? On your branches he would swing, do you long for the happiness that day would bring? He found shelter in your shade. You thought his laughter would never fade. Weeping willow, stop your tears. There is something to calm your fears. You think death has ripped you forever apart. But I know he'll always be in your heart.
- SoundtracksMy Girl
Written by Smokey Robinson (as William Robinson) and Ronald White
Performed by The Temptations
Courtesy of Motown Record Company, L.P.
- How long is My Girl?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Mi primer beso
- Filming locations
- 555 East Stanford Street, Bartow, Florida, USA(Sultenfuss House / Funeral Parlour)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $17,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $59,489,799
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $12,391,783
- Dec 1, 1991
- Gross worldwide
- $59,492,553
- Runtime1 hour 42 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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