- 1991movierewind
Episode #91: My Girl
Listen to Episode 91 of the Podcast here while you enjoy the show notes.
SUMMARY - In My Girl, Vada Sultenfuss (played by Anna Chlumsky) lives with her dad Harry (played by Dan Akroyd) in a funeral home. Harry is consumed with his work and Vada starts to feel more ignored when he starts spending time with his new hire. She has a lot of questions about life and death, but doesn’t know where to turn for help.
Screenplay by Laurice Elehwany; Directed by Howard Zieff; and released on November 27, 1991.
FILM DISCUSSION
It's a little hard to describe this movie accurately. For the most part it's a slice of life showing two friends over the summer.
Meanwhile you have the emotionally distant father and his new love interest
An unrequited crush on the teacher
And a grandmother with Alzheimer's. It's the making of a very melodramatic movie but it never reaches that level.
Most of the attempts at humor are not that great, but we both highly enjoyed the bingo scene
The movie is about death and how a young child understands it, or doesn't understand it.
Just about everyone knows the "twist" to this, but that doesn't lessen the impact and emotional toll. It is still highly effective.
This movie does a great job of communicating what's in a pre-teen's mind and how it's not always easy to know how to get answers because you don't know how to ask.
We also appreciated that there are no bad characters. The dad may be ignorant to his daughter's feelings, but no one is a terrible person.
And it's great that this shows the teacher treating Vada like an adult because in certain situations that's what's best.
There are so many places where this could have gone off the rails into a laughable, over-the-top drama but all the notes were hit just right.
Awards Talk: At the Young Artist Awards, it was nominated for Best Family Motion Picture and Anna Chlumsky won for Most Promising Newcomer. At the Kid’s Choice Awards, it was nominated for Favorite Movie. At the MTV Movie Awards, Anna was nominated for Breakthrough Performance, it had a nominator for Best On-Screen Duo and it won for Best Kiss
TRUE CRIME & POP CULTURE
This week we don't have any true crime to talk about so we jump right into music via television.
What Happened On This Day - November 27, 1991
Here's what was on TV
On ABC, of all places, there was the MTV 10th Anniversary Special.
Performances included acoustic version of Freedom by George Michael, Aerosmith singing Dream On, REM singing Losing My Religion, Michael Jackson singing Black or White and Will You Be There
Also, during the celebration, Madonna performed this “Dear MTV” tribute.
RANKINGS & RATINGS
Nikki 1-5 star scale - 4 out of 5
Jon 0-4 star scale - 3 out of 4
Would you watch it again? - Yes, we both would. Jon even thinks it might be more worthwhile to watch this again in favor of watching the sequel for a first time. Even though the "twist" in this movie is well-known, that doesn't mean its impact is lessened. The movie could easily be a laughable melodrama, but instead its a charming, heartfelt coming-of-age story.
If you want to watch My Girl, as of this recording in December 2022, it’s available on Netflix, Digital Rental, VHS, DVD. Check your local listings.
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Join us next time for Beauty and the Beast available on Disney +, Digital Rental, VHS, DVD
