Themes: Single Parents, Fathers and Daughters, Starting Over
Main Cast: Macaulay Culkin, Anna Chlumsky, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Richard Masur, Griffin Dunne
Release Year: 1991
Country: US
Run Time: 102 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Howard Zieff directed this comedy-drama about the emotional awakening of a young girl in a small Pennsylvania town during the summer of 1972. Anna Chlumsky plays eleven-year-old Vada, a quiet child living with her widowed father Harry Dultenfuss (Dan Aykroyd), a local mortician who prepares bodies in his basement. Vada feels responsible for the death of her mother, who died giving birth to her, and lives in an emotional cocoon, her only friend being a personable local boy, Thomas J. Sennett (Macauly Culkin), who suffers from allergies. Like Vada, Harry keeps to himself, until a freelance make-up artist, Shelly DeVoto (Jamie Lee Curtis), comes to town and gets a job working with Harry. Shelly and Harry fall in love and Vada feels threatened by her presence. But then a personal tragedy forces Vada to come out of her emotional shell. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
A family-friendly tearjerker, the childhood drama My Girl was made by commercial advertising director Howard Zieff. First time actress Anna Chlumsky is totally likeable as Veda, an 11-year-old adventurous girl with an overactive imagination. Her mother's death and her father's profession as a mortician have informed her quirky obsessions with disease and death, but the macabre subject matter is treated tenderly and the characters are given compassion. As scatterbrained dad Harry, Dan Aykroyd is entertaining in one of his early transitions to dramatic roles, and Jamie Lee Curtis appears to be having fun as kooky beautician Shelly. If sometimes overly precocious, Veda is still a believable kid who yearns for attention from her father and gets a crush on her English teacher, Mr. Bixler (Griffin Dunne). Her most endearing scenes are shared with best friend Thomas J., played by child superstar Macaulay Culkin, fresh from the runaway success of Home Alone. Though it is guilty of being heavy-handed, My Girl still offers an accessible tale of love and loss featuring several fine performances. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Ann Nelson - Gramoo Sultenfuss; Cassi Abel - Judy; Harvey Bellman - Bingo Announcer; Ray Buktenica - Danny; Bree Butler - Girl; Dave Caprita - Ray; Glenda Chism - Thomas J.'s Mother; Nancy L. Chlumsky - Jackie; George Colangelo - Ralph; Amanda Cole - Girl; T.J. Collazo - Boy; Bill Cordell - Thomas J.'s Father; John de Russy - Vernon; Anthony Finazzo - Howie; Anthony Giaimo - Carnival Barker; Robert V. Girolami - George; Peter Michael Goetz - Dr. Welty; Jane Hallaren - Nurse Randall; Henry Kohn - Carl; Zachary McLemore - Zack; Florence Mistrot - Margie; Paul Nagle, Jr. - Minister; Shane Obedzinski - Billy; Linda Perri - Betty; Edgar Allan Poe IV - Carnival Barker; Lynn Sellers - Suzanne; Kurt Smildsin - Policeman; Lara Steinick - Ronda; Kristian Truelsen - Charles; Tom Villard - Justin; Jodie Wilson - Mrs. Hunsaker; Anthony Jones - Arthur; Ellen Jacoby; Mary Colquhoun
Credit
Pat Tagliaferro - Art Director, Hannah Gold - Associate Producer, Mary Colquhoun - Casting, Karen Patch - Costume Designer, Howard Zieff - Director, Wendy Greene Bricmont - Editor, Joseph M. Caracciolo, Jr. - Executive Producer, David T. Friendly - Executive Producer, James Newton Howard - Composer (Music Score), Allen Weisinger - Makeup, Joseph T. Garrity - Production Designer, Paul Elliott - Cinematographer, Joseph M. Caracciolo, Jr. - Production Manager, Brian Grazer - Producer, Steve Aaron - Sound/Sound Designer, Artie Malesci - Stunts, Jeff Moldovan - Stunts Coordinator, Barbara Benedek - Screenwriter, Laurice Elehwany - Screenwriter
The movie is set in Madison, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1972. Vada Sultenfuss (Anna Chlumsky) is a 11-year-old tomboy and a hypochondriac. Vada's father, Harry Sultenfuss (Dan Aykroyd), is an awkward widower who does not seem to understand his daughter, and as a result, constantly ignores her. His profession as a funeral director, in which the Sultenfuss' residence is also a funeral parlor, has led Vada to develop an obsession with death as well as disease. Vada also thinks that she killed her own mother, since her mother died giving birth to her. She regularly tends to her invalid grandmother (Ann Nelson), who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Harry's brother Phil (Richard Masur), who lives nearby, also stops by frequently to help out the family.
Vada is teased by other girls because her best friend, Thomas J. Sennett (Macaulay Culkin), is unpopular and a boy. Their summer adventures—from first kiss to last farewell—introduce Vada to the world of adolescence.
Vada's summer begins well. She befriends Shelley Devoto (Jamie Lee Curtis), the new make-up artist at her father's funeral parlor, who provides her with some much needed guidance. She is also infatuated with her teacher, Mr. Bixler (Griffin Dunne), and steals some money from Shelley's trailer to attend a summer writing class that he is teaching.
But before long, things start to fall apart. Her father and Shelley start dating and get engaged, Thomas J. dies from an allergic reaction to bee stings while looking for Vada's mood ring in the woods, and she finds out that Mr. Bixler is engaged to someone else.
Vada's grief, however, manages to mend the rift between her and her father, and by the end of the movie, Vada has not only managed to deal with her pain and grief, but has also overcome some of her previous issues as well.
In the film Accepted, after Justin Long's character performs a cover of The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop", he lists "not crying at the end of My Girl" as one of the things he cannot do.
Thomas J.'s death is referenced in the The OC episode entitled "The Heights". After crying during an intense conversation with ex-girlfriend Marissa, Luke later tells her that he hasn't cried like that "since Macaulay Culkin died in My Girl".
At the end of heavy metal band Anthrax's 1993 album Sound of White Noise, a sample of Vada's teacher Mr. Bixler saying "Be dangerous and unpredictable...and make a lot of noise" is used in the outro. Anthrax singer John Bush also sings this exact phrase on Sound of White Noise b-side track "Poison My Eyes" which was released on the Last Action Hero soundtrack in 1993.
The funeral scene in which Vada cries "Put on his glasses! He can't see without his glasses!" over Thomas J.'s body is constantly referenced and played during the popular Philadelphia morning show Preston and Steve whenever Preston is unable to read something.
